Static headspace gas chromatographic method for quantitative determination of residual solvents in pharmaceutical drug substances according to European Pharmacopoeia requirements

A static headspace (HS) gas chromatographic method for quantitative determination of residual solvents in a drug substance has been developed according to European Pharmacopoeia general procedure. A water–dimethylformamide mixture is proposed as sample solvent to obtain good sensitivity and recovery. The standard addition technique with internal standard quantitation was used for ethanol, tetrahydrofuran and toluene determination. Validation was performed within the requirements of ICH validation guidelines Q2A and Q2B. Selectivity was tested for 36 solvents, and system suitability requirements described in the European Pharmacopoeia were checked. Limits of detection and quantitation, precision, linearity, accuracy, intermediate precision and robustness were determined, and excellent results were obtained.