Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To establish an evaluation system for the leachables of typical volatile substances from rubber stoppers for different types of drugs and develop effective compatibility testing strategies.
METHODS The headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(HS-GC-MS) was used to qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of volatile substances in 12 batches of rubber stoppers from six manufacturers. Through headspace gas chromatography(HS-GC) technology, methods for determining leachables in three categories of dugs(water-soluble, alcohol-soluble and lipid-soluble) were established.
RESULTS Nine characteristic indicators, including n-hexane, acetone, and toluene etc. were identified. The chromatographic separation of the nine compounds was effective, and the linear relationship within each concentration range was good(r≥0.9992). For the nine compounds in the three aforementioned pharmaceutical classes, the limits of detection were 3.6–163.7, 211.3–7999.3 and 451.2–8822.3 ng·mL−1, with corresponding recoveries of 87.3%–103.3%, 83.6%–101.9% and 82.8%–99.9%, and relative standard deviations (n=9) of 0.8%–3.1%, 1.6%–5.0% and 1.6%–6.6%, respectively. The determination results of the migration amount of 12 kinds of drugs at different time points showed that the migration of volatile substances such as n-hexane and methylcyclopentane from the rubber stoppers was the most significant, and the risk of leaching of volatile substances were generally higher in alcohol-soluble and lipid-soluble drugs than in water-soluble drugs.
CONCLUSION This study systematically establish an evaluation system for typical volatile leachates from rubber stoppers for different types of drugs, providing support for the quality control and medication safety of pharmaceutical rubber stoppers.