Recent advances and application of liquid chromatography in pharmaceutical industry

Liquid chromatography (LC) and its associated techniques are essential in the pharmaceutical industry for optimizing drug formulations, ensuring product quality, and meeting regulatory standards. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) is widely used for rapid screening and chiral separations in early-stage development due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) remains the gold standard for routine analysis, offering high resolution and reproducibility for complex sample analysis and quantification of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) builds on HPLC, providing faster analysis, higher sensitivity, and greater efficiency, making it ideal for high-throughput testing. Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) is increasingly used for separating thermally labile and polar compounds, offering advantages in solvent usage and analysis time. This review will discuss the evolution of these chromatographic techniques and their critical role in optimizing pharmaceutical processes, ensuring product quality, and facilitating regulatory compliance throughout the drug development lifecycle.