@phdthesis{Theiss2019,
  author    = {Theiss, Christiane},
  title     = {Qualitative Charakterisierung polydisperser Macrogole sowie strukturell verwandter Hilfsstoffe mittels HPLC-CAD},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-17927},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-179274},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The class of macrogols and macrogol-based excipients, i.e. macrogol fatty alcohol ethers, macrogol fatty acid esters, and polysorbates, plays an important role in modern galenic formulations. Formerly used as simple emulsifiers, they are nowadays utilized in fields such as targeted drug release to increase bioavailability, and as solubilizers for complex systems. For these multifaceted applications, and regarding the polydisperse structures of the macrogols, a reproducible and significant analytical procedure is required. For the characterization of excipients, the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) provides some compendial protocols which are able to describe the number of functional groups present in the substance. Some examples of these bulk parameters are the hydroxyl value, the iodine value, the peroxide value, or the acid value. Thus, these bulk parameters allow an overview of the average molar weight or possible degradation processes (e.g. autoxidation), but they provide no further information about the polymeric distribution which can heavily depend on the manufacturing process. Furthermore, bulk parameter investigations are very time-consuming and prone to errors due to their stringent reaction processes and numerous reaction steps. Since several years, the HPLC has been the gold standard of pharmaceutical analytics particularly due to the fact of automation. Coupled to UV detection, it offers the opportunity for a quick, easy, and robust analysis for many drugs. In the field of excipients, the development progress of HPLC-analysis is much slower due to the fact that most excipients lack a UV-chromophore. The application of the highly sensitive mass spectrometry would be eligible for detection but is rather complex and expensive. However, the development of the aerosol-based detectors such as the ELSD (evaporative light scattering detection), the CAD (charged aerosol detection), and the NQADTM (nano quantity aerosol detection) enables the application of HPLC for analyzing non-chromophoric substances. This work aimed to develop a generic HPLC-CAD method to analyze a wide range of macrogols and macrogol-based excipients. The separation was performed on a C18-column. A gradient method was developed based upon several linear gradient steps in order to be able to separate the different chain lengths. The mobile phases were water and acetonitrile, respectively, to which 0.1\% formic acid was added. Macrogols in the average size range of PEG 300 to PEG 3000 were separated with acceptable resolution. The separation results were verified by mass spectrometry for PEG 300 - 1500. Five saturated and two non-saturated fatty acids, as well as two fatty alcohols of different chain lengths were successfully separated. 13 macrogol-based excipients were analyzed with the developed method and separated successfully. The macrogol fatty alcohol ethers, macrogol stearates, and polysorbates were separated to sufficient extent to analyze the polymeric distribution. The free PEGs in the excipients were separated and identified. Based on these free PEGs, different manufactural processes could be determined. Depending on the average chain lengths of the processed PEGs, the free fatty acids or alcohols could be identified and separated from the esters or ethers, respectively. For the smaller average chain lengths, the free fatty acids and alcohols coeluted with the esters and ethers. Macrogol glycerol hydroxy stearate (Cremophor® RH40) was separated into its components except for the linear monoesters which partially coeluted with the free PEGs, and the glycerol triesters which showed effects of size exclusion. The developed method was also used for stability tests of the non-saturated fatty acids, i.e. oleic and linoleic acid. Here, the fatty acid solutions were chemically (hydrogen peroxide) and thermally (60 °C) stressed and analyzed after different time spans. A time and temperature dependent degradation was observed. An assignment of some degradation products was performed by determining the m/z values with mass spectrometry. The method proved to be capable of separating the degradation products of the main substance and allows to estimate the dimension of degradational processes and partly identify the structures of the degradational products. In general, the provided method offers a good basis for analyzing and characterizing a wide field of substance classes. It provides an extension of bulk parameters (e.g. hydroxyl value) with a reduction of analytical effort. It offers a good starting point for more specific observations such as long-term stability or other related substance classes.},
  subject      = {HPLC},
  language  = {de}
}