Development and validation of a systematic UPLC–MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of three phenol impurities in ritonavir

• New UPLC method for the determination of phenol impurities in ritonavir.
• The predicted LOD and LOQ concentrations are very low for all three impurities.
• The method was successfully applied for formulation batches of ritonavir.
• Best suitable for monitoring of phenol impurities in ritonavir during its synthesis.

A stability indicating gradient reverse phase UPLC–MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of three phenol impurities in ritonavir drug substance. The chromatographic separation was performed on Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) using gradient elution of 0.05% ammonia in methanol and 5.0 mM ammonium acetate buffer (30:70, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. Both negative and positive electrospray ionization (ESI) modes were operated simultaneously for the quantification of three phenol impurities. The total run time was 11 min, within which ritonavir and its three impurities were well separated. The developed method was validated as per ICH guidelines with respect to specificity, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, accuracy, precision and robustness. The calibration curves showed a good linearity over the concentration range of 0.3–1.5 ppm for phenol and 0.1–1.5 ppm for both 4-nitrophenol and N-phenoxycarbonyl-l-valine (NPV). The determination coefficient obtained was >0.9998 in each case. The method had very low limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) and the accuracy lies between 97.8% and 103.2% for all the three phenol impurities. The developed method was successfully applied for five formulation batches of ritonavir to determine its phenol impurities.

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