Development and validation of a sensitive GC-MS method for the determination of trace levels of an alkylating reagent in a β-lactam active pharmaceutical ingredient

A direct injection gas chromatographic method utilizing selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode mass selective detection was developed and validated for the trace analysis of an impurity, carbonic acid chloromethyl tetrahydro-pyran-4-yl ester (CCMTHP), present in a β-lactam active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). A variety of analytical techniques including LC-MS, GC-FID, GC-ECD and GC-MS were evaluated during the method development. GC-MS with SIM at m/z = 49 demonstrated the best detection sensitivity. A 10 ppm (5 pg on column) limit of quantitation (LOQ) was attained and the linearity of the method was demonstrated in the range of 10-1000 ppm. Accurate and precise quantitation of the impurity in drug substance was achieved with external standardization. A 10:1 split injection was applied to limit the amount of non-volatile API loading onto the column. The effects of injection and detection parameters such as split ratio, liner type, injection temperature and number of mass ions monitored were studied. Full validation proved the accuracy, precision and specificity of the method, which was successfully employed to analyze many pilot lots of the API.