Determination of Stereoisomers of Epalrestat by Liquid Chromatography

An isocratic reversed-phase liquid chromatographic (LC) method is described for the determination of epalrestat and its three stereoisomers (degradation impurities) in drug substance. The LC separation system consisted of a Hypersil C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase comprising methanol, acetonitrile and water (volume ratio 60∶1∶50, pH 4.5) delivered at a flow rate of 1.6 mL/min and UV detection at 280 nm. The proposed LC method is simple and selective for the determination of the stereoisomers of epalrestat in the drug substance with a limit of detection and quantification of 3.9 μg/mL and 4.9 μg/mL, respectively. The stereoisomers were identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).