Analysis of betamethasone, dexamethasone and related compounds by liquid chromatography/electrospray mass spectrometry.

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS) method has been developed to conclusively differentiate the epimers betamethasone and dexamethasone and various esterification products (betamethasone and dexamethasone 21-acetate, betamethasone and dexamethasone 21-phosphate, betamethasone 17-valerate, betamethasone 21-valerate and betamethasone 17,21-dipropionate) in counterfeit drugs. Good separation with baseline resolution of all epimers or isomers was obtained on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB or Luna C8 column, using a step gradient with mobile phases of 0.05 M ammonium acetate and acetonitrile. Betamethasones can also be distinguished by the relative abundance of their m/z 279 ion in the positive electrospray tandem mass spectra. The LC/MS or LC/MS/MS method developed was successfully applied to the analysis of drug product samples, i.e. creams and tablets. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.