Development and validation of a stability-indicating RP-HPL C-CAD method for gabapentin and its related impurities in presence of degradation products

The objective of the current study was to develop and validate a sensitive and specific LC-MS compatible stability indicating reversed phase liquid chromatographic method for the quantitative determination of Gabapentin and its related substances using Corona charged aerosol detection (CAD). The chromatographic conditions were optimized using a Kinetix Biphenyl column with gradient elution using a mobile phase composed of pH 4.2 ammonium acetate, acetonitrile, and methanol. Forced degradation was observed in basic and peroxide conditions and the major degradants were identified by LC-MS/MS analysis. The developed RP-HPLC CAD method was validated according to ICH guidelines. The LOD and LOQ values for Gabapentin and all its related impurities ranged from 0.075μg/mL to 0.18μg/mL and 0.25μg/mL to 0.60μg/mL, respectively. The recovery for all impurities ranged from 91.0 to 105.6%w/w. Solutions were stable for 7days at room temperature. The validated method produced acceptable precision, linearity, accuracy, robustness and ruggedness.