Advances in the analysis of steroid hormone drugs in pharmaceuticals and environmental samples (2004-2010).

A critical review of the literature of the analysis of steroid hormone drugs is presented based on 213 publications published between 2004 and 2010. The state of the art of the assay and purity check of bulk drug materials is characterized on the basis of the principal pharmacopoeias supplemented by the literature dealing with their impurity profiling and solid state characterization. The determination of the active ingredients and impurities/degradants in pharmaceutical formulation by HPLC, other chromatographic, electrodriven, spectrophotometric and other methods is also summarized. A short section deals with the application of analytical methods in drug research. The literature of the determination of steroid hormones in environmental samples is summarized in tabulated form.