Simple and Fast HPLC‐DAD Method for Simultaneous Screening of Four Pharmaceutical Active Compounds in Aqueous Matrices

Abstract A practical, fast, and reproducible method was developed to separate and quantify four pharmaceutically active compounds and one plastic additive considered emerging contaminants in water samples by HPLC‐DAD. The mixture of compounds included metformin (MET), bisphenol A (BPA), estradiol (E2), atorvastatin (ATV), and diclofenac (DCF). The mobile phase used for the chromatography runs was composed of 33:67 (MeCN: 0.05 M phosphate buffer, pH 3 + 0.1% v/v SDS) in gradient mode performed on an Inertsil ODS‐3 column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) at 23 °C. An efficient separation was achieved in a run time of 10 min, with an LOD and LOQ of 53 µg·L −1 and 160.5 µg·L −1 for MET; 17.6 µg·L −1 and 53.5 µg·L −1 for BPA; 30.1 µg·L −1 and 91.1 µg·L −1 for E2; 13.0 µg·L −1 and 39.4 µg·L −1 for ATV; and 15.8 µg·L −1 and 47.9 µg·L −1 for DCF, respectively. Method suitability parameters were evaluated according to ICH guidelines.