Detection of dehalogenation impurities in organohalogenated pharmaceuticals by UHPLC-DAD-HRESIMS.

The presence of dehalogenated impurities is often observed in halogen-containing pharmaceuticals, and can present a difficult analytical challenge, as the chromatographic behavior of the halogenated drug and the hydrogen-containing analog can be quite similar. In this study we describe the chromatographic separation and unambiguous identification of dehalogenation impurities or associated isomers in organohalogenated pharmaceuticals using UHPLC with a pentafluorophenyl column coupled with diode-array and high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry detection (UHPLC-DAD-HRESIMS).