Proposal of degradation pathway with toxicity prediction for hydrolytic and photolytic degradation products of timolol.

Timolol (TIM) is a potent ß-adrenergic blocker, useful in treatment of ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma. Development and validation of stability indicating LCMS assay method for TIM was accomplished coherent with ICH guideline. Successful chromatographic separation of TIM with its four degradation products was attained by using gradient elution mode on reverse phase column using ammonium acetate buffer, pH 4.6 as mobile phase A and organic solvent as the mobile phase B. Chromatographic conditions were set such as 1.0 mL min-1 flow rate, 20 µL injection volume, 30 °C column temperature and 320 nm detection wavelength. Four major degradation products obtained from hydrolysis and photolysis, were identified and characterized with the combination of liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS) and accurate mass measurements. Degradation pathways were identified based on a comparison of the fragmentation pattern of the [M+H]+ ions of TIM and its degradation products. The method validation was performed as per ICH guideline Q2 (R1).

A stability-indicating LC-MS/MS method for zidovudine: Identification, characterization and toxicity prediction of two major acid degradation products.

Zidvovudine (AZT) is a nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI), a class of anti-retroviral drug. A stability-indicating assay method for AZT was developed in line with ICH guideline. Successful separation of AZT and its degradation products was achieved by gradient elution mode on reverse phase C18 column using 10 mM ammonium acetate: acetonitrile as the mobile phase at 0.8 mL/min flow rate, 25 µL injection volume, 30 °C column temperature and 285 nm detection wavelength. Two major acid degradation products were identified and characterized by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS) and accurate mass measurements. The probable mechanisms for the formation of degradation products were identified based on a comparison of the fragmentation pattern of the [M + H] + ions of AZT and its degradation products. One of the degradation products, DP-1, was isolated by semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using Waters XBridge Prep C18 (250 mm×10 mm, 5 µm). Degradation products showed higher toxicity compared to the drug in some models assessed by TOPKAT software. The method validation was performed with respect to robustness, specificity, linearity, precision and accuracy as per ICH guideline Q2 (R1).

Quality by design: a systematic and rapid liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry method for eprosartan mesylate and its related impurities using a superficially porous particle column.

The present work describes the systematic development of a robust, precise, and rapid reversed-phase liquid chromatography method for the simultaneous determination of eprosartan mesylate and its six impurities using quality-by-design principles. The method was developed in two phases, screening and optimization. During the screening phase, the most suitable stationary phase, organic modifier, and pH were identified. The optimization was performed for secondary influential parameters--column temperature, gradient time, and flow rate using eight experiments--to examine multifactorial effects of parameters on the critical resolution and generated design space representing the robust region. A verification experiment was performed within the working design space and the model was found to be accurate. This study also describes other operating features of the column packed with superficially porous particles that allow very fast separations at pressures available in most liquid chromatography instruments. Successful chromatographic separation was achieved in less than 7 min using a fused-core C18 (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.6 µm) column with linear gradient elution of 10 mM ammonium formate (pH 3.0) and acetonitrile as the mobile phase. The method was validated for specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, and robustness in compliance with the International Conference on Harmonization Q2 (R1) guidelines. The impurities were identified by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry.