Analysis of ganciclovir and its related substances using high performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods

Objective High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) methods were developed for the determination of ganciclovir and its related substances. Methods A Hypersil ODS2 column (4.6mm×250mm, 5μm) was used with a mobile phase of 0.02M potassium 1.0mL/min, and UV detector set at 254nm was used for monitoring the eluents. Results The method was simple, rapid, selective and capable of separating all related substances at trace level with a detection limit of 0.04μg/mL. It has been validated with respect to accuracy, precision, linearity, and limits of detection and quantification. The linearity range was 10.2-153.0μg/mL with r=0.9998. The percentage recoveries ranged from 96.7% to 101.6%, and RSD was 1.24%-1.96% (n=5). Conclusion The method was found to be suitable not only for monitoring the reactions during the process development but also for quality control of ganciclovir. For identification of related substances, LC/MS was used. The mainly related substances of ganciclovir active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) were determined as guanine, (1, 3-dioxolan-4-yl) methyl acetate, and diacetyl guanine.