Drug Quantification by Simultaneous HPLC Analysis

Abstract

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis has been commonly used to monitor (separate, identify, and quantify) potentially toxic compounds in the environment. In this context, a large amount of research has investigated the so-called Emerging Contaminants (ECs), which are new pollutants that, until a few years ago, were not detected or were considered to pose a low risk to the environment and were not regulated. In this work, in particular, the technique was employed for the simultaneous determination of three emerging pollutants: Paracetamol (PAR), Salicylic Acid (SA), and Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA) in the sample matrix. To study the effect of a set of factors on the responses, a factorial design was used. The responses (chromatographic parameters) considered in the experimental design took into account asymmetry, tailing factor, and resolution. The following factors were investigated: buffer solution pH, mobile phase flow rate, and the proportion of buffer in this mobile phase. The results indicated that optimized control of mobile phase pH, facilitated by judicious use of buffer solutions, forms the basis for achieving optimal HPLC separations. In addition, tests were performed to assess the interference from the matrix in the analysis.