Multiple heart-cutting two dimensional liquid chromatography mass spectrometry: Towards real time determination of related impurities of bio-pharmaceuticals in salt based separation methods

Many of the chromatographic methods used in industry to determine related impurities in bio pharmaceuticals employ salt containing mobile phases. “Salty” mobile phases often provide superior chromatographic performance but are not compatible with mass spectrometry (MS) detection. Peak tracking necessary for method development is therefore often based on peak areas and the chemist’s experience/intuition. In addition, MS characterization of impurities usually is done by offline fraction collection, which apart from being time consuming often suffers from poor recovery or the degradation of impurities collected. The recent development of multiple heart-cutting (MHC) two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) provides a way to address these problems. This study shows how MHC 2D-LC–MS can be used to obtain almost real time MS data for bovine insulin related impurities present at low level (< < 0.03%). High quality MS spectra were obtained even for a first dimension using a mobile phase containing high concentrations of sodium, sulphate and phosphate. Thereby MHC 2D-LC–MS offers a possibility to eliminate the guesswork currently associated with peak tracking during method development. Furthermore, in contrast to current characterization methods involving fraction collection, solvent reduction/exchange etc., MS determination is done directly, which markedly shortens the workflow (from days to hours) and reduces the risk for poor recovery and degradation.