Evaluation of a compact mass spectrometer for routine support of pharmaceutical chemistry

Development of an automated and High throughput UHPLC/MS based workflow for cleaning verification of potent compounds in the pharmaceutical manufacturing environment

Cleaning verification (CV) is a critical step in the pharmaceutical manufacturing process to eliminate or reduce unacceptable contamination of a product as a result of insufficiently cleaned equipment surfaces. The main concern is cross contamination with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from previous runs that may impact patient safety. Current conventional approaches involve rather tedious sample preparation and analytical methods with relative lengthy analysis time. Potent APIs possessing low acceptable daily intake (ADI) values require analytical methods for CV with very low detection limits to confirm that these APIs are below their acceptance limits prior to the next manufacturing process. In this work, a novel end to end CV workflow was developed, which includes the automated sample and calibration solution preparation as well as high throughput analysis by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with single quadrupole mass spectrometry in multiple injection chromatography and selected ion monitoring mode (MIC-MS-SIM). The method was validated using ten model compounds. Acceptable specificity, linearity (R² > 0.997) and single digit ng/mL LOQ and LOD were achieved for all model compounds. This approach was also successfully applied to the analysis of 22 internal CV samples from an internal program.

Characterization of astragaloside I-IV based on the separation of HPTLC from Pleurotus ostreatus cultivated with Astragalus

In this study, total saponins were extracted from Pleurotus ostreatus cultivated with Astragalus as one of organic culture substrates. High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) assay showed total saponins could be separated effectively, and four kinds of spots were identified as AG I, AG II, AG III, and AG IV, respectively. FTIR spectra based on HPTLC separation assay showed the saponin characteristic groups including -OH, C-H, C=O, and the glycoside linkaged to sapogenin group C-O-C, suggesting the four kinds of spots belonged to cycloartane-type triterpene saponins. The primary mass spectra of precursor ion (HPTLC-ESI-MS) assay further proved the main composition of four kinds of spots was AG I-IV, respectively. Physical properties, including the detection of specific rotation and melting point, revealed the separation of high-purity saponin monomer by HPTLC. HPTLC-dual wavelength spectrodensitometric method detection showed that content of astragaloside I-IV was ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 mg/g, and the total astragalosides contents attained to 1.397 mg/g, indicating P. ostreatus could bioaccumulate astragalosides from Astragalus. These results demonstrated the characterization of astragalosides based on the separation of HPTLC was effective, and supported to consider astragalosides-enriched P. ostreatus as functional edible fungus for food and medical applications. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Currently, the consumption of enriched foods has become common and continues to increase due to urgent demanding for foods with high nutritional value. Pleurotus ostreatus is a functional edible fungus, which not only can produce secondary metabolites, but can enrich bioactive ingredients. Astragalosides have a wide range of biological activities, especially currently being tested as cardioprotective agent. In this study, P. ostreatus was cultivated through adding Astragalus into culture substrates, which realized massive enrichment of astragalosides. Astragalosides-enriched P. ostreatus as functional edible fungus could be extensively used in food and medical areas, especially for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Current developments in LC-MS for pharmaceutical analysis

Liquid chromatography (LC) based techniques in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) detection have had a large impact on the development of new pharmaceuticals in the past decades.

Automated open-access liquid chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry to support drug discovery projects

The need of a continuous productivity increases in medicinal chemistry laboratories of the pharmaceutical industry motivated the development, over the years, of new software solutions to enable Open-Access in many analytical techniques such as NMR or LC, among others, to characterize and assess the purity of new molecules. These approaches have been widely spread in LC with low resolution MS systems, but similar automated platforms have been rather less explored with high resolution MS. In this work, an improved Automated Open-Access methodology on an UHPLC with DAD coupled to ESI and quadrupole time-of-flight MS system is described. Detailed reports from standard UHPLC-MS runs containing chromatograms and different spectra (MS with different fragmentation) are automatically sent to the chemists. High resolution MS data is typically achieved within ± 1 mDa mass accuracy regardless of sample concentration. Upon training, chemists log-in samples into the system by selecting appropriate methods, being able to interpret the results by themselves in 95% of the cases. The instrument is working unattended, except for a limited number of samples (5%) which require more complex experiments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a completely automated Open-Access LC-HRMS approach has been implemented for medicinal chemists of a pharmaceutical industry.

Analysis of Hemoglobin Glycation Using Microfluidic CE-MS: A Rapid, Mass Spectrometry Compatible Method for Assessing Diabetes Management

Diabetes has become a significant health problem worldwide with the rate of diagnosis increasing rapidly in recent years. Measurement of glycated blood proteins, particularly glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), is an important diagnostic tool used to detect and manage the condition in patients. Described here is a method using microfluidic capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometry detection (CE-MS) to assess hemoglobin glycation in whole blood lysate. Using denaturing conditions, the hemoglobin (Hb) tetramer dissociates into the alpha and beta subunits (α- and β-Hb), which are then separated via CE directly coupled to MS detection. Nearly baseline resolution is achieved between α-Hb, β-Hb, and glycated β-Hb. A second glycated β-Hb isomer that is partially resolved from β-Hb is detected in extracted ion electropherograms for glycated β-Hb. Glycation on α-Hb is also detected in the α-Hb mass spectrum. Additional modifications to the β-Hb are detected, including acetylation and a +57 Da species that could be the addition of a glyoxal moiety. Patient blood samples were analyzed using the microfluidic CE-MS method and a clinically used immunoassay to measure HbA1c. The percentage of glycated α-Hb and β-Hb was calculated from the microfluidic CE-MS data using peak areas generated from extracted ion electropherograms. The values for glycated β-Hb were found to correlate well with the HbA1c levels derived in the clinic, giving a slope of 1.20 and an R(2) value of 0.99 on a correlation plot. Glycation of human serum albumin (HSA) can also be measured using this technique. It was observed that patients with elevated glycated Hb levels also had higher levels of HSA glycation. Interestingly, the sample with the highest HbA1c levels did not have the highest levels of glycated HSA. Because the lifetime of HSA is shorter than Hb, this could indicate a recent lapse in glycemic control for that patient. The ability to assess both Hb and HSA glycation has the potential to provide a more complete picture of a patient's glycemic control in the months leading up to blood collection. The results presented here demonstrate that the microfluidic CE-MS method is capable of rapidly assessing Hb and HSA glycation from low volumes of whole blood with minimal sample preparation and has the potential to provide more information in a single analysis step than current technologies.

Implementation of a single quad MS detector in routine QC analysis of peptide drugs

A newly developed single quad mass spectrometry (MS) detector was coupled to a ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) system and implemented in the routine quality control (QC) and impurity analysis of four therapeutic peptides, namely bleomycin sulfate, tyrothricin, vancomycin HCl and bacitracin, which were selected given their multi-component drug nature and their closely structurally related impurity profiles. The QC and impurity profiling results obtained using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography ultraviolet/mass spectrometry (UPLC-UV/MS) detection system were analyzed against the results obtained using traditional high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) methods derived from pharmacopoeial methods. In general, the used stationary phases of sub-2 µm particle (UPLC) technology resulted in lower limits of detection and higher resolution separations, which resulted in more detected impurities and shorter overall run times contrasting the traditional HPLC columns. Moreover, online coupling with a single quad MS detector allowed direct peak identification of the main compounds as well as small impurities, hereby increasing the information content without the need of reference standards.