Electrochemical oxidation of ibuprofen

- 4 - Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the electrochemical oxidation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient ibuprofen as one of the parts of the stability studies of pharmaceutical products. The task is to ensure optimal conditions for the course of electrochemical oxidation, which produces the largest percentage of degradation products, to compare the flow and static experimental setup and its effect on the result of electrochemical oxidation and to identify the resulting degradation products. The examined conditions include the pH of the buffer used to dissolve ibuprofen, the potential applied to the working electrode and the duration of oxidation. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass detection was used to separate and determine degradation products. Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (2.1 × 100 mm; 1.7 µm) was chosen as the separation column. The mobile phase consisted of an aqueous component (10mM ammonium formate with pH 3.0) and an organic component (acetonitrile). Detection was performed using a photodiode array detector at a wavelength of 222 nm and a quadrupole mass detector in the scan range m/z 50-400. The electrochemical oxidation was performed in a radial electrochemical flow cell and the conditions under which the largest percentage of degradation products formed were as..