High-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry for screening elemental impurities in drugs to adhere to the new international guidelines

New guidelines for the limits of elemental impurities in drug products were introduced by the International Council for Harmonization in 2014. While the guidelines define a limit for each element, the complete quantification of the 24 elements included is, in fact, unnecessary. An accurate "pass/fail" test to determine whether the threshold was exceeded or not could be valuable in this context. In this study, a screening procedure using the features of high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry for the evaluation of 12 elements in three different drugs was developed. The three-dimensional absorbance spectrum including time and wavelength in the vicinity of the main line of the element allows for a pass/fail decision related to the presence or absence of the element in the sample. Additionally, the bi-dimensional absorbance wavelength spectrum defines the elements captured in the window when additional peaks are seen in the spectrum. The analysis of the selected drugs included sample digestion, the definition of pyrolysis and atomization temperatures, determination of the limit of detection and other validation parameters for each element. The evaluation of the spectra, both three- and bi-dimensional, revealed that only three elements, Cr, Ni, and Cu, were present in the samples in amounts above the LOD and therefore "fail" in the test. Nevertheless, they were quantified, and the analysis revealed that their levels were below the permitted daily exposure, which are at least 6 times higher than the LOD of the selected elements. Operating in a routine mode, the proposed method is a good option for the evaluation of elemental impurities in drug active ingredients or drug final products.