Determination of neomycin and related substances in pharmaceutical preparations by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry and charged aerosol detection.

A new, simple and repeatable liquid chromatographic method with charged aerosol detection (LC-CAD) for determination of neomycin and related substances has been developed. Analysis of neomycin or other aminoglycosides is problematic due to a lack of chromophores. Universal response of CAD enables direct quantification of neomycin and related substances, for which no reference standard are available. Separation was performed on C18 Hypersil(®) Gold aQ column using water, methanol and heptaflurobutyric acid as mobile phase. Under developed chromatographic conditions all impurities were well separated from neomycin B. Peaks identification was evaluated by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The proposed method was validated according to ICH guidelines and applied to the content determination of neomycin and related substances in pharmaceutical preparations.