Green Strategies toward Eco-Friendly HPLC Methods in Pharma Analysis

The global need for changing the processes in order to meet the green analytical chemistry (GAC) criteria is a great challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), as one of the most frequently used techniques in various stages in the pharmaceutical industry, generates huge amounts of organic toxic waste. Therefore, the implementation of the GAC principles in pharma analysis is highly required. Although the number of published papers concerning green chromatography approaches is constantly increasing, the use of eco-friendly HPLC methods in the pharma industry has not been widely implemented. The reasons for this mainly include the need for adaptation of the conventional HPLC instruments, lack of time, lack of experience, or uncertainty of the analysts regarding fulfillment of the method criteria. In this chapter, an overview of green strategies that can be easily applied to conventional instruments for liquid chromatography (LC) in developing eco-friendly HPLC methods in pharma analysis is given. The aim is to emphasize that the green method development in pharma analysis can be easily accomplished and to encourage the analytical community in the pharmaceutical industry not only to develop but also to transfer the already established conventional HPLC methods into green ones.