HPLC Separation of Polar Drugs with MS-compatible Method

Acetaminophen is a widely used over-the-counter analgesic and antipyretic, commonly found in cold and flu medications. Phenylephrine serves as a decongestant, while guaifenesin acts as a mucolytic agent to ease respiratory congestion. These three active components of cough medications were effectively separated using mixed-mode chromatography on the Zodiac HST C HPLC column.

The retention and elution order of phenylephrine can be adjusted by modifying buffer concentration and pH, providing flexible method development options. This method is suitable for the analysis of cold and cough formulations during production, quality control (QC), and quality assurance (QA) processes.

The method is robust, reproducible, and fully LC/MS compatible, making it ideal for analysis in biological fluids and various sample matrices.