An original self-assembly using a tetrathiafulvalene-based molecular clip for the recognition of fullerene C60.

A glycoluril-based molecular clip incorporating two tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) sidewalls has been synthesized using a straightforward Diels-Alder synthetic route and its ability to self-assemble with fullerene C60 in a 2 : 1 stoichiometry has been demonstrated in solution.

Purification of drug degradation products supported by analytical and preparative supercritical fluid chromatography.

A stressed degradation (oxidation) was employed to produce metabolites from an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) with large molecular weight (about 900 g/mol). An analytical chromatographic method was desired to compare the products generated by different degradation methods while a multi-gram-scale preparative chromatographic method was necessary to purify the produced metabolites. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) was selected for both tasks as no other chromatographic method had achieved the resolution of the API and metabolites (two isomeric mono-oxide species and one di-oxide). First, an analytical-scale method was developed with ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography (UHPSFC). Achiral stationary phases containing sub-2 µm fully porous particles or sub-3 µm superficially porous particles, and chiral phases containing 3 and 5 µm fully porous particles were selected for a first screening with gradient elution (carbon dioxide - methanol containing additives). The stationary phase providing the most promising results was ACQUITY Torus 2-PIC (100 x 3 mm, 1.7 µm, Waters). A central composite design (CCD) was conducted to optimize the gradient program and oven temperature. Final gradient conditions were as follows: 50-70% methanol in 3.8 min with oven temperature set at 36 °C, back-pressure set at 11 MPa and flow-rate at 0.8 mL/min. The optimized method was employed to analyze samples obtained with different degradation conditions. Then the method was adapted and transferred to preparative-scale SFC on a 5 µm-particles Torus 2-PIC stationary phase (150 x 30 mm). The method was modified to comprise an isocratic step followed by a gradient, favoring peak shape of the last eluting compound and minimal volume of collected fractions. Batch injections in gradient mode were carried out to purify six grams of crude product.

Unravelling the effects of mobile phase additives in supercritical fluid chromatography-Part II: Adsorption on the stationary phase.

The mobile phases employed in current practice of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) are usually composed of a mixture of pressurized carbon dioxide and a co-solvent. The co-solvent is most often an alcohol and may contain a third component in small proportions, called an additive (acid, base or salt). In the first part of this series, the effects of mobile phase additives on the polarity and apparent pH of the mobile phase were explored. In the present paper, we examine the effects pertaining to adsorption of additives on the stationary phase. Ammonium acetate was selected as a representative case, because it is often employed in current practice. To favour its solubility and further improve chromatographic quality, a small portion of water is also advocated. First, the equilibration time is observed to be largely increased in the presence of an additive, especially when mobile phase compositions containing only low proportions of methanol co-solvent are employed. Secondly, the effects of ammonium acetate are more thoroughly assessed with a modified version of the solvation parameter model (five Abraham descriptors and two descriptors to take account of positive and negative charges on ionizable species). On a hybrid silica stationary phase (ACQUITY UPC2 BEH), the effects of increasing concentration of ammonium acetate (0-25 mM in the methanol co-solvent) are investigated. The retention of acidic species is the most strongly affected, with a continuous retention increase when additive concentration increases. The retention of basic and neutral species is also moderately affected. Then thirty-two stationary phases based on sub-2 µm totally porous particles or sub-3 µm superficially porous particles are characterized with and without 20 mM ammonium acetate and 2% water in the methanol co-solvent. The effects of adsorbed additive on the interaction capabilities are discussed. Finally, the interest of introducing the additive in the dilution solvent, a method that was sometimes recommended to simplify the workflow, is also discussed with a model basic compound.

First inter-laboratory study of a Supercritical Fluid Chromatography method for the determination of pharmaceutical impurities.

Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) has known a strong regain of interest for the last 10 years, especially in the field of pharmaceutical analysis. Besides the development and validation of the SFC method in one individual laboratory, it is also important to demonstrate its applicability and transferability to various laboratories around the world. Therefore, an inter-laboratory study was conducted and published for the first time in SFC, to assess method reproducibility, and evaluate whether this chromatographic technique could become a reference method for quality control (QC) laboratories. This study involved 19 participating laboratories from 4 continents and 9 different countries. It included 5 academic groups, 3 demonstration laboratories at analytical instrument companies, 10 pharmaceutical companies and 1 food company. In the initial analysis of the study results, consistencies within- and between-laboratories were deeply examined. In the subsequent analysis, the method reproducibility was estimated taking into account variances in replicates, between-days and between-laboratories. The results obtained were compared with the literature values for liquid chromatography (LC) in the context of impurities determination. Repeatability and reproducibility variances were found to be similar or better than those described for LC methods, and highlighted the adequacy of the SFC method for QC analyses. The results demonstrated the excellent and robust quantitative performance of SFC. Consequently, this complementary technique is recognized on equal merit to other chromatographic techniques.

Impurity profiling of drug candidates: Analytical strategies using reversed-phase and mixed-mode high-performance liquid chromatography methods.

The development of new active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) requires accurate impurity profiling. Nowadays, reversed-phase HPLC (RPLC) on C18 stationary phase is the method of first choice for this task and usually employed in generic screening methods. However, this method sometimes fails, especially when the target analyte is not sufficiently retained, making impurity analysis difficult or even impossible. In such cases, a second method must be available. In the present paper, we compare the merits of RPLC on C18 phase to those of previously optimized alternative methods, based on the analysis of a large and diverse set of small-molecule drug candidates. Various strategies are considered: RPLC on C18 phase but with different mobile phase composition (acidic or basic), RPLC with a pentafluorophenyl stationary phase, or mixed-mode HPLC with both bimodal and trimodal stationary phases. First, method performances were compared in terms of response rate (proportion of compounds eluted) and peak shapes for a large set of synthetic drugs (140) with structural diversity and their orthogonality was evaluated. Then a subset of compounds (25) containing varied impurity profiles was used to compare the methods based on the capability to detect impurities and evaluate the relative purity of the API.

Interest of achiral-achiral tandem columns for impurity profiling of synthetic drugs with supercritical fluid chromatography.

To achieve the most complete impurity profiling of synthetic drugs with a single chromatographic technique, high resolution is required, which may be gained with a combination of high efficiency and versatile selectivity, allowing to separate most similar analytes. Compared to a single-column chromatographic method, coupling complementary stationary phases promises both an increase in efficiency and an increase in selectivity possibilities. With supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), the use of long columns is facilitated by the low viscosity of the mobile phase. In this paper, we investigate the interest of coupling two achiral stationary phases (Acquity UPC2 HSS C18 SB and Nucleoshell HILIC) that were previously observed to have excellent complementarity in SFC to carry out impurity profiling on 25 individual drug substances containing varied numbers and amounts of impurities. The single-column gradient methods are compared to tandem-column gradient methods with the two possible ordering of columns (C18 phase in first or second position) based on selectivity, peak capacity, sensitivity, UV-estimated purity of the active pharmaceutical ingredient and number of impurities detected with UV-estimated concentration >0.04%. It appears that it could be more beneficial to have two columns coupled in a single analysis than two consecutive methods with the single columns. The overall analysis time are nearly the same, but with more informative chromatograms in about 35% cases.

Enantioseparation of novel chiral sulfoxides on chlorinated polysaccharide stationary phases in supercritical fluid chromatography.

Asymmetric sulfoxides is a particular case of chirality that may be found in natural as well as synthetic products. Twenty-four original molecules containing a sulfur atom as a centre of chirality were analyzed in supercritical fluid chromatography on seven polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSP) with carbon dioxide - methanol mobile phases. While all the tested CSP provided enantioseparation for a large part of the racemates, chlorinated cellulosic phases proved to be both highly retentive and highly enantioselective towards these species. Favourable structural features were determined by careful comparison of the enantioseparation of the probe molecules. Molecular modelling studies indicate that U-shaped (folded) conformations were most favorable to achieve high enantioresolution on these CSP, while linear (extended) conformations were not so clearly discriminated. For a subset of these species adopting different conformations, a broad range of mobile phase compositions, ranging from 20 to 100% methanol in carbon dioxide, were investigated. While retention decreased continuously in this range, enantioseparation varied in a non-monotonous fashion. Abrupt changes in the tendency curves of retention and selectivity were observed when methanol proportion reaches about 60%, suggesting that a change in the conformation of the analytes and/or chiral selector is occurring at this point.

Comparison of ultra-high performance methods in liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization - mass spectrometry for impurity profiling of drug candidates.

Impurity profiling of organic products synthesized as possible drug candidates represents a major analytical challenge. Complementary analytical methods are required to ensure that all impurities are detected. Both high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) can be used for this purpose. In this study, we compared ultra-high performance HPLC (UHPLC) and ultra-high performance SFC (UHPSFC) using a large dataset of 140 pharmaceutical compounds. Four previously optimized methods (two on each technique) were selected to ensure fast high-resolution separations. The four methods were evaluated based on response rate, peak capacity, peak shape and capability to detect impurities (UV). The orthogonality between all methods was also assessed. The best UHPLC method and UHPSFC methods provided comparable quality for the 140 compounds included in this study. Moreover, they were found to be highly orthogonal. At last, the potential of the combined use of UHPLC and UHPSFC for impurity profiling is illustrated with practical examples.

An improved classification of stationary phases for ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography.

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has recently benefited of new instrumentation, together with the availability of many ultra-high performance columns (sub -2µm fully porous particles or sub -3µm superficially porous particles), rendering it more attractive than ever. Most of these columns commonly used in SFC were initially developed for HPLC use, with an increasing number of stationary phases specifically designed for SFC. While the availability of different stationary phase chemistries is an advantage to achieve successful SFC separations, selecting a column for method development remains difficult. For this reason, we have previously developed a classification of stationary phases dedicated to SFC use. It is based on linear solvation energy relationships (LSER) with Abraham descriptors (for neutral species). While current interest in SFC is strong in the pharmaceutical industry, the need to take account of interactions occurring with ionisable species is pressing. We have previously shown how a modified version of the solvation parameter model, adapted to take account of ionic and ionizable species, could be applied to the characterization of SFC systems. In the present paper, based on this modified LSER model, and on the analysis of 109 neutral and ionisable species, we propose an improved classification of 31 ultra-high performance stationary phases to facilitate method development with SFC.

Use and practice of achiral and chiral supercritical fluid chromatography in pharmaceutical analysis and purification.

The interest of pharmaceutical companies for complementary high-performance chromatographic tools to assess a product's purity or enhance this purity is on the rise. The high-throughput capability and economic benefits of supercritical fluid chromatography, but also the "green" aspect of CO2 as the principal solvent, render supercritical fluid chromatography very attractive for a wide range of pharmaceutical applications. The recent reintroduction of new robust instruments dedicated to supercritical fluid chromatography and the progress in stationary phase technology have also greatly benefited supercritical fluid chromatography. Additionally, it was shown several times that supercritical fluid chromatography could be orthogonal to reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and could efficiently compete with it. Supercritical fluid chromatography is an adequate tool for small molecules of pharmaceutical interest: synthetic intermediates, active pharmaceutical ingredients, impurities, or degradation products. In this review, we first discuss about general chromatographic conditions for supercritical fluid chromatography analysis to better suit compounds of pharmaceutical interest. We also discuss about the use of achiral and chiral supercritical fluid chromatography for analytical purposes and the recent applications in these areas. The use of preparative supercritical fluid chromatography by pharmaceutical companies is also covered.

An attempt to estimate ionic interactions with phenyl and pentafluorophenyl stationary phases in supercritical fluid chromatography.

Pentafluorophenyl-bonded silica (PFP) phases employed in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) often provide very different results depending on the column manufacturer. PFP phases also provide significantly different selectivity from non-fluorinated aromatic phases. As all HPLC columns can also be employed with carbon dioxide-based mobile phases, PFP phases can also be useful to supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). However, whether they provide adequate retention and selectivity in SFC conditions is necessary for them to find applicability with this technique. In our laboratory, a column classification for packed column SFC was designed, based on the solvation parameter model, which currently comprises data for about eighty different columns. In this paper, we present the characterization of eleven PFP phases provided by different manufacturers used with carbon dioxide-methanol mobile phases. The columns are compared to fifteen other non-fluorinated phenyl and diphenyl phases in terms of their retention and separation characteristics assessed by the solvation parameter model with five Abraham descriptors. The latter is insufficient for an accurate description of retention mechanisms on the PFP phases, thus two extra terms accounting for ionic interactions with anions and cations (D(-) and D(+)), previously developed for HPLC in hydrophilic interaction mode (HILIC), are introduced. While some approximations are necessary regarding the true pH and pKa values in CO2-based mobile phases, the retention models are significantly improved by this addition, allowing to integrate ionizable analytes in the test set for evaluation of ionic interactions in the chromatographic systems.

Development of an achiral supercritical fluid chromatography method with ultraviolet absorbance and mass spectrometric detection for impurity profiling of drug candidates. Part I: Optimization of mobile phase composition.

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is a very useful tool in the purpose of impurity profiling of drug candidates, as an adequate selection of stationary phases can provide orthogonal separations so as to maximize the chances to see all impurities. The purpose of the present work is to develop a method for chemical purity assessment. The first part, presented here, focuses on mobile phase selection to ensure adequate elution and detection of drug-like molecules, while the second part focuses on stationary phase selection for optimal separation and orthogonality. The use of additives in the carbon dioxide - solvent mobile phase in SFC is now commonplace, and enables in particular to increase the number of eluted compounds and to improve peak shapes. The objective of this first part was to test different additives (acids, bases, salts and water) for their chromatographic performance assessed in gradient elution with a diode-array detector, but also for the mass responses obtained with a single-quadrupole mass detector, equipped with an electrospray ionization source (Waters ACQUITY QDa). In this project, we used a selection of one hundred and sixty compounds issued from Servier Research Laboratories to screen a set of columns and additives in SFC with a Waters ACQUITY UPC(2) system. The selected columns were all high-performance columns (1.7-1.8µm with totally porous particles or 2.6-2.7µm with superficially porous particles) with a variety of stationary phase chemistries. Initially, eight additives dissolved in the methanol co-solvent were tested on a UPC(2) ACQUITY UPC(2) HSS C18 SB column. A Derringer desirability function was used to classify the additives according to selected criteria: elution capability, peak shapes, UV baseline drift, and UV and mass responses (signal-to-noise ratios). Following these tests, the two best additives (ammonium acetate and ammonium hydroxide) were tested on a larger number of columns (10) where the two additives appeared to provide very comparable overall scores. However, ammonium acetate was selected for slightly better chromatographic quality. In a second step, we investigated the effects of ammonium acetate concentration (between 0 and 25mM in the methanol co-solvent) on retention and peak efficiency. Two types of silica supports were tested by working with ACQUITY UPC(2) HSS C18 SB and BEH columns. 20mM ammonium acetate in methanol with 2% water was finally selected as the best co-solvent composition.

Development of an achiral supercritical fluid chromatography method with ultraviolet absorbance and mass spectrometric detection for impurity profiling of drug candidates. Part II. Selection of an orthogonal set of stationary phases.

Impurity profiling of organic products that are synthesized as possible drug candidates requires complementary analytical methods to ensure that all impurities are identified. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is a very useful tool to achieve this objective, as an adequate selection of stationary phases can provide orthogonal separations so as to maximize the chances to see all impurities. In this series of papers, we have developed a method for achiral SFC-MS profiling of drug candidates, based on a selection of 160 analytes issued from Servier Research Laboratories. In the first part of this study, focusing on mobile phase selection, a gradient elution with carbon dioxide and methanol comprising 2% water and 20mM ammonium acetate proved to be the best in terms of chromatographic performance, while also providing good MS response [1]. The objective of this second part was the selection of an orthogonal set of ultra-high performance stationary phases, that was carried out in two steps. Firstly, a reduced set of analytes (20) was used to screen 23 columns. The columns selected were all 1.7-2.5µm fully porous or 2.6-2.7µm superficially porous particles, with a variety of stationary phase chemistries. Derringer desirability functions were used to rank the columns according to retention window, column efficiency evaluated with peak width of selected analytes, and the proportion of analytes successfully eluted with good peak shapes. The columns providing the worst performances were thus eliminated and a shorter selection of columns (11) was obtained. Secondly, based on 160 tested analytes, the 11 columns were ranked again. The retention data obtained on these columns were then compared to define a reduced set of the best columns providing the greatest orthogonality, to maximize the chances to see all impurities within a limited number of runs. Two high-performance columns were thus selected: ACQUITY UPC(2) HSS C18 SB and Nucleoshell HILIC.