Development of a sensitive LC-APCI-MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of eleven nitrosamines in valsartan and irbesartan with a simple extraction approach

•A sensitive APCI-LC-MS/MS method in dMRM analysis mode for simultaneous quantification of eleven nitrosamines in 17 min.•Dominantly DI water-based simple extraction within short time using a shaker at room temperature.•The validated method was applied to determine the concentrations of the nitrosamines in in active pharmaceutic ingredients (APIs) and final products (FPs) of valsartan and irbesartan. Nitrosamines (NAs) are potent genotoxic agents (GAs) in several animal species, and some are classified as probable or possible human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In July 2018, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) which are used to treat high blood pressure have been recalled owing to contamination with NAs. In this study, a simple and sensitive method for the determination of eleven NAs in a single analysis was developed, using atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation source coupled liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer (LC-APCI-MS/MS). By performing the 17 min-run in dynamic multiple reaction monitoring (dMRM) mode, eleven NAs were separated on a Poroshell HPH C18 (4.6 × 150 mm, 2.7 µm) column with gradient elution implementing mobile phase A consisting of 0.2 % formic acid in water and mobile phase B consisting of methanol. The developed analytical method was successfully applied in both active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished products (FPs) of valsartan and irbesartan with straightforward and effective extraction procedures. Good linearity with a correlation coefficient (R2) > 0.996 was achieved over the concentration in a range of 0.5–50 ng/mL. The limits of detection (LODs) ranged in 0.001–0.008 ppm and limits of quantitation (LOQs) ranged in 0.008–0.05 ppm of the method fulfilled thresholds of US Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for testing of GAs in valsartan and irbesartan. The accuracy of the proposed method ranged from 73.1 % to 115.2 % for APIs and the relative standard deviation (RSD %) was ≤11.3 while these validation parameters were in the range of 80.2–128.5 % and ≤ 10.6 for FPs, respectively.