Studies of Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography as an Analytical Technique in Pharmaceutical Analysis - an Industrial Perspective

Abstract: Studies have been performed to evaluate the use of micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), one mode of capillary electrophoresis (CE), as an analytical technique in industrial pharmaceutical analysis. The potential for using chemometrics for the optimisation of MEKC methods has also been studied as well as the possibilities of coupling MEKC with mass spectrometry (MS). Two methods were developed, one for the determination of ibuprofen and codeine and another for pilocarpine, together with their degradation products and impurities in both cases. MEKC was found to be the most suitable mode of CE for the methods. Both methods were optimised by means of experimental design. Valuable information was gathered and optimum conditions were defined which resulted in fast systems with baseline-separated peaks. The ibuprofen-codeine method was validated according to the recommended validation procedures of the International Conference of Harmonisation. The validation was performed on a commercially available tablet formulation to verify the suitability of the method, i.e. for quantification of the two main compounds and to determine the degradation products and impurities in area% of each main peak. The following parameters were determined: selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision, detection limit, quantitation limit, robustness and range. The results confirm that the method is highly suitable for its intended purpose, i.e. as a routine method for assay and impurity determination. The MEKC method for ibuprofen-codeine was coupled to a mass spectrometer in order to evaluate the potential of partial filling (PF)-MEKC-MS for identification of impurities in pharmaceutical substances and products. The so-called partial-filling technique was used to prevent the non-volatile micelles from entering the MS and was shown to fulfil its purpose of providing detection limits of about 10 pg. The study clearly shows that micellar electrokinetic chromatography is well-suited as an analytical technique in industrial pharmaceutical analysis.