ABSTRACT
Nomegestrol acetate (NOMAc) is a synthetic progesterone analog and classified as a fourth-generation progestin. It has been approved in many countries for oral contraception, hormonal replacement therapy (HRT), and treatment of various gynecological disorders. There are several synthetic routes reported for the synthesis of NOMAc and they all share the very similar last three to five steps toward the conversion of 6-methylene to 6-methyl-6,7-unsaturated structure. Therefore the final product from different processing routes may have similar impurity profiles. In the analysis of NOMAc, we identified two impurities, impurity A (listed in EP 8.0) and impurity B (not specified in EP 8.0). Both impurities were further confirmed by synthesis. In addition, both impurities and NOMAc were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicities against L02 liver cells, mesenchymal stem cells, MCF-7 breast cancer cells, and C33A cervical cancer cells. These three analogs are not cytotoxic to the four cell lines at low concentrations (<20 µM). NOMAc and impurity A showed cytotoxicity to L02, MCF-7, and C33A cells at high concentrations, while impurity B did not show significant cytotoxicity to any of the cell lines tested.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/chemical synthesis , Drug Discovery/methods , Megestrol/chemical synthesis , Norpregnadienes/chemical synthesis , Progesterone Congeners/chemical synthesis , Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/chemistry , Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal/pharmacology , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Survival/drug effects , Drug Contamination , Humans , Megestrol/chemistry , Megestrol/pharmacology , Molecular Structure , Norpregnadienes/chemistry , Norpregnadienes/pharmacology , Progesterone Congeners/chemistry , Progesterone Congeners/pharmacologyABSTRACT
The three most readily accessible D-homo isomers of 17-acetoxy-6-methylpregna-4,6-diene-3,20-dione (Ib) have been prepared and characterized in detail. The 17-keto isomers IIb and IIIb were obtained by base-catalyzed rearrangement of Ia followed by reacetylation, and the 17a-ketone IVb by Lewis-Acid treatment of Ia.