Development and validation of a RP-HPLC method for the determination of gentamicin sulfate and its related substances in a pharmaceutical cream using a short pentafluorophenyl column and a Charged Aerosol Detector

Gentamicin sulfate is a potent broad spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotic which is used as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method has been developed and validated to determine the composition of gentamicin sulfate and to estimate its related substances (without any pre- or post-column derivatization) in a pharmaceutical cream. As gentamicin has a weak UV chromophore, it is not possible to detect low levels of known and unknown related substances of gentamicin using a UV detector. In this method, a Charged Aerosol Detector (CAD) was used to obtain high sensitivity that was necessary for the intended purpose of the method. This method can separate all the analogues of gentamicin including all known and unknown related substances of the API. A short (5 cm × 4.6 mm) pentafluorophenyl HPLC column from Restek (Allure PFP) was used with an ion-pair gradient mobile phase consisting of (A) heptafluorobutyric acid:water:acetonitrile (0.025:95:5, v/v/v) and (B) trifluoroacetic acid:water:acetonitrile (1:95:5, v/v/v).