Evaluation of electron capture detection in reversed-phase HPLC for pharmaceutical analysis.

The coupling of RP-LC to electron capture detection (ECDNi(63)) is described. To reduce the amount of mobile phase entering into the detector, interfacing was performed via a Scott-type spray chamber. The performance of RP-LC/ECDNi(63) was evaluated for pharmaceutical analysis and the results show that the system is able to work in a routine environment using columns with 2 mm id and common amounts of the organic modifiers methanol or ACN in the mobile phase. Because of the high sensitivity and selectivity toward electrophilic compounds, the use of this detector opens possibilities for the analysis of impurities down to the 0.05% level of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API).