Determination of enantiomeric impurity of etomidate by high performance liquid chromatography

Objective To determine enantiomeric impurity of etomidate using high performance liquid chromatography. Methods (R)-etomidate and (S)-etomidate were separated on a CHIRALPAK AD-H column. The mobile phase consisted of 20∶80(v/v) isopropanol-n-hexane. The flow rate of the mobile phase was 0.5mL/min. The detected wavelength was 242nm. Results (R)-etomidate and (S)-etomidate could be separated completely under these conditions. The precision of (R)-etomidate was 1.57% (n=3). The limit of detection of (R)-etomidate was 4.25ng/mL. The average percentage content of (S)-etomidate was 0.09% in the samples. Conclusion The method was repeatable and sufficiently sensitive to determine the enantiomeric impurity of etomidate. It allows the quantitation of the impurities at the 0.085% (w/w) level relative to etomidate at a concentration of the test solution of 5mg/mL.