LC, MS n and LC-MS/MS studies for the characterization of degradation products of amlodipine.

In the present study, comprehensive stress testing of amlodipine (AM) was carried out according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) Q1A(R2) guideline. AM was subjected to acidic, neutral and alkaline hydrolysis, oxidation, photolysis and thermal stress conditions. The drug showed instability in acidic and alkaline conditions, while it remained stable to neutral, oxidative, light and thermal stress. A total of nine degradation products (DPs) were formed from AM, which could be separated by the developed gradient LC method on a C18 column. The products formed under various stress conditions were investigated by LC-MS/MS analysis. The previously developed LC method was suitably modified for LC-MS/MS studies by replacing phosphate buffer with ammonium acetate buffer of the same concentration (pH 5.0). A complete fragmentation pathway of the drug was first established to characterize all the degradation products using LC-MS/MS and multi-stage mass (MS n ) fragmentation studies. The obtained mass values were used to study elemental compositions, and the total information helped with the identification of DPs, along with its degradation pathway.

Development and validation of stability indicating method for the determination of exemestane by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography.

Exemestane is an aromatase inhibitor used in the treatment of breast cancer. A selective stability-indicating reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method has been developed which can separate and accurately quantitate low levels of exemestane. The stability-indicating capability of the method was demonstrated by adequate separation of exemestane and all the degradation product peaks from exemestane peak and also from each other in stability samples of exemestane. Chromatographic separation of exemestane and its degraded products were achieved by using isocratic elution at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min on a C18 reverse phase column (Phenomenex, size: 250 × 4.60 mm, particle size 5 µm) at ambient temperature. The mobile phase used for the analysis was acetonitrile-water (60:40, %v/v) with UV visible detection at 242 nm. The proposed method was used to study the degradation behavior of drug under various stress conditions as per ICH recommended guidelines.

LC, LC-MS/TOF and MS(n) studies for the identification and characterization of degradation products of nelfinavir mesylate.

The objective of the present investigation was to separate, identify and characterize the major degradation products (DPs) of nelfinavir mesylate generated under hydrolytic, oxidative, photolytic and thermal stress conditions as advised in International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline Q1A(R2). The drug was found to degrade under acidic, basic, oxidative and photolytic stress, while it was stable in neutral and thermal stress conditions. A total of three degradation products were formed, which were separated on a C-18 column employing a gradient HPLC method. A complete mass fragmentation pathway of the drug was first established with the help of multi-stage (MS(n)) and MS/TOF accurate mass studies. Then stressed samples were subjected to LC-MS/TOF studies, which provided their fragmentation pattern and accurate masses. The mass spectral data were employed to characterize the DPs and assign structures to them. The total information was also used to establish the degradation pathway of the drug. The degradation products were identified as 3-hydroxy-N-((2R,3R)-3-hydroxy-1-(phenylthio)butan-2-yl)-2-methylbenzamide and (3S,4aS,8aS)-N-tert-butyl-2-((2R,3R)-2-hydroxy-3-(3-hydroxy-2-methylbenzamido)-4-(phenylsulfinyl)butyl)decahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxamide.