Liquid chromatographic separation of pregabalin and its possible impurities with fluorescence detection after postcolumn derivatization with o-phtaldialdehyde.

A rapid procedure based on direct extraction and RP-HPLC separation of pregabalin and its possible impurities with fluorescence detection has been developed. The separation conditions and parameters of derivatization reaction for postcolumn derivatization of pregabalin with o-phtaldialdehyde/2-mercaptoethanol were studied. Purospher STAR RP-8e column with isocratic elution was employed. Fluorescence detection was performed at excitation and emission wavelength of 345 nm and 450 nm, respectively. The proposed method has an advantage of a simple sample pre-treatment and a quick and very sensitive HPLC method. The applicability of developed method was successfully verified during analysis of commercial samples of tablets of Lyrica (Pfizer, USA). Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.