Dimethyl sulfate is an important chemical raw material that is widely used in the synthesis of drugs, dyes, spices, and pesticides. The highly toxic and corrosive dimethyl sulfate residue in medicines is harmful to the human body, and hence, the residue level should be strictly controlled. Traditional detection methods use high-purity acetonitrile and anhydrous as the solvents, which limits the choice of detection solvents and degrades the versatility and accuracy of detection. Therefore, a simple and accurate method for the determination of dimethyl sulfate residues is urgently needed. Dimethyl sulfate is usually detected by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) with pyridine as the methylation substrate. In this study, a new method for the detection of dimethyl sulfate was established using tertiary amines such as aminophenazone, which has many advantages over pyridine, as the methylation substrate. For example, the hybrid orbital and electron cloud of the N atom are different, resulting in stronger nucleophilicity of aminophenazone. High temperatures that are detrimental to the stability of dimethyl sulfate are not required when using aminophenazone, and the aliphatic quaternary ammonium salt product is more stable, with good stability, low interference, good ionization properties, and high response. The separation was performed on a Waters Atlantis HILIC C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 3.0 μm) using a mobile phase consisting of 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate solution-0.1% formic acid methanol solution (50∶50, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The column temperature was set at 40 ℃, and the sample size was 1 μL. Dimethyl sulfate was determined in the electrospray positive ionization (ESI+) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) modes. Dimethyl sulfate showed good linear relationships within the range of 0.9935 to 7.9480 ng/mL (r=0.9997). The limit of detection and limit of quantification for dimethyl sulfate were 0.50 ng/mL and 1.15 ng/mL, respectively. The recoveries (n=3)of dimethyl sulfate were 94.9% to 106.4%. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 1.44% to 5.51%. The RSD of the methylated aminophenazone peak area was 4.32%, indicating good stability of the reaction product. Dimethyl sulfate genotoxic impurities were not detected in 9 batches of aminophenazone, caffeine, and tegafur samples, which indicated that the drug manufacturers paid attention to the control of these impurities. The proposed method is advantageous over the existing techniques in terms of the better ion peak shape and higher molecular weight, without interference from other fragments. The method is specific, sensitive, simple, rapid, and accurate, and it can be used for the determination of dimethyl sulfate genotoxic impurities in aminophenazone and other medicines.
硫酸二甲酯被广泛用于药品的有机合成中,具有很强的毒性及腐蚀性,因此应严格控制其在药品中的残留量。现有传统检测方法在样品制备过程中不允许使用水,且存在专属性低、灵敏度差等缺陷,严重制约了检测方法的通用性和准确度。研究采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱技术(UHPLC-MS/MS),建立了氨基比林等叔胺类药品中残留的硫酸二甲酯的测定方法。检测方法以氨基比林作为衍生剂,40 ℃条件下氨基比林和硫酸二甲酯在水溶液中能够快速反应生成甲基化氨基比林,通过检测甲基化氨基比林间接计算硫酸二甲酯的残留含量。采用Waters Atlantis HILIC C18色谱柱(100 mm×2.1 mm, 3.0 μm),以10 mmol/L乙酸铵水溶液-0.1%甲酸甲醇溶液(50∶50, v/v)为流动相进行等度洗脱,流速0.3 mL/min,柱温40 ℃,进样量1 μL;在电喷雾电离、正离子(ESI+)多反应监测(MRM)模式下测定硫酸二甲酯的含量。硫酸二甲酯在0.9935~7.9480 ng/mL范围内线性关系良好,相关系数(r)为0.9997,方法的检出限为0.50 ng/mL,定量限为1.15 ng/mL,加标回收率为94.9%~106.4%。建立的检测方法用于氨基比林、咖啡因、替加氟等9批样品中,均未检出硫酸二甲酯,说明各药品生产企业注重了该基因毒杂质残留量的控制。该方法专属性强,灵敏度高,操作简单,定量准确,适用于氨基比林等药品中硫酸二甲酯基因毒杂质的测定。
Keywords: aminopyrine; caffeine; derivative; dimethyl sulfate; tegafur; ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS).