Synthesis and characterization of oxitropium bromide related substances and novel stability indicating HPLC methods.

The European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) described two separate HPLC methods for determination of organic impurities in oxitropium bromide, a synthetic anticholinergic agent used by inhalation in the treatment of asthma and other bronchial disorders, and a potentiometric titration assay method which is not a stability indicating method. During synthetic process development and analytical studies of oxitropium; besides known Ph. Eur.-impurities new process related and degradation impurities were determined, identified by LC-MS, synthesized, characterized, and then used in development and validation studies of oxitropium analytical methods. As a result of these studies, a single HPLC related substances method was developed and validated according to international conference on harmonisation (ICH) guidelines for determination of all oxitropium related substances by using an inertsil ODS-4 (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column at 15 °C with 50 μL injection volume at a wavelength of 210 nm with gradient elution of phosphate-buffer/acetonitrile mixture flowing at a rate of 1.2 mL/min during 60 min. Also, a stability indicating HPLC assay method was developed and validated by using an XBridge C18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 3.5 μm) column at 25 °C with 10 μL injection volume at a wavelength of 210 nm and with phosphate-buffer/acetonitrile (85/15) mixture flowing at a rate of 1.0 mL/min during 10 min. Stress-testing and stability studies of oxitropium bromide was carried out and samples were analyzed by using newly developed stability-indicating HPLC assay and related substances methods.