Determination of atracurium, cisatracurium and mivacurium with their impurities in pharmaceutical preparations by liquid chromatography with charged aerosol detection.

The Corona CAD (charged aerosol detection) is a new type of detector introduced for LC applications that has recently become widely applied in pharmaceutical analysis. The Corona CAD measures a physical property of analyte and responds to almost all non-volatile species, independently of their nature and spectral or physicochemical properties. The LC method with charged aerosol detection was developed for the determination of three isomers of atracurium, cisatracurium and also three isomers of mivacurium with their impurities. The limit of quantitation for laudanosine was 1 microg ml(-1). The elaborate method for the analysis of those active substances and laudanosine proved to be fast, precise, accurate and sensitive. All other impurities were identified using time-of-flight mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization.