Hyphenated Analytical Techniques in Pharmaceutical and Environmental Analysis

Abstract

Hybrid analytical methods, which combine chromatographic separation with advanced spectrometric detection, are now useful for the precise detection and quantification of environmental pollutants and medicinal substances. This study compared the analytical capabilities of four hyphenated analytical platforms: HPLC-DAD, LC-MS/MS, GC-MS, and ICP-MS. These platforms stand for High-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Diode Array Detection, Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry, and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry, respectively. The study employed a quantitative experimental design with twenty different pharmacological formulations and twenty different water samples from the environment. Checks for linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery, LODD, and LOQ were performed to ensure that analytical procedures were legitimate. The developed methods showed a good analytical performance in terms of a good correlation (r > 0.998), recovery (96.8–99.1%) and a good precision (RSD < 2%). LC-MS/MS proved to be more sensitive for the pharmaceutical compounds and ICP-MS was very good for trace elemental determination. The results of statistical analysis indicated that there were statistically significant differences among the techniques investigated (p < 0.05). Taken as a whole, the results confirm that these combined analytical methods can be used to develop dependable, sensitive and accurate analytical platforms for use in pharmaceutical QC and environmental monitoring, thereby extending their use to other research laboratories, regulatory testing and environmental surveillance.