Development and validation of a stability-indicating method, structural elucidation of new degradation products from misoprostol by LC-MS time-of-flight, and an ex vivo study of vaginal permeation.

Misoprostol (MSP) is commonly prescribed in obstetrics and gynecology clinical practice for labor induction, cervical ripening, first-trimester pregnancy termination, and the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. Furthermore, there is a lack of comprehensive discussion evaluating how different commercially available formulations influence the overall efficacy of MSP, even though reports indicate issues with the quality of these formulations, particularly regarding stability and vaginal absorption processes. This study investigates the stability of MSP under acidic conditions and its in vitro permeation using swine vaginal mucosa. A forced degradation study was conducted using 0.2 M HCl, and a high-efficiency LC method was developed. Three degradation products were identified and characterized using electrospray ionization-high-resolution quadrupole-time-of-flight-MS, with respective m/z values of 391.2508, 405.2705, and 387.2259, respectively. These results suggest that the degradation mechanism involves dehydration of the ß-hydroxy ketone moiety, followed by isomerization to its most resonance-stable form and de-esterification. Finally, the in vitro permeation study revealed that the esterified form of MSP was unable to permeate the mucosa and required prior degradation for any component to be detected in the receptor fluid.

Development of the stability-indicating method, structural elucidation of new photodegradation products from terconazole by LC-MS TOF, and in vitro toxicity.

Terconazole (TCZ) was the first triazole antifungal drug launched in the market and has been used in the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis. It is also indicated to treat dermatophytosis and fungal ocular infections. However, some of the degradation products from triazole drugs have been reported to be toxic, justifying the need of further investigations about the stability of TCZ. identification of its degradation products and evaluation of their toxicity considering the new possibilities of therapeutic indications. Therefore, in this work a systematic investigation regarding photostability of TCZ was conducted. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and its methanolic solution (100 µg mL-1) were kept into a photostability chamber under a UV light (200 Wh/m2; 1.2 × 106 lux/h) during 5 days and 90 min, respectively. A high-efficiency liquid chromatography method was developed for separation and identification of TCZ and its degradation products. The solid-state API remained stable throughout the test, whereas an extensive degradation was observed when in solution. In this case, four degradation products not yet reported in the literature were identified and characterized by electrospray ionization high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-QTOF-MS). Two degradation products presented m/z of 498 and the other two of 496 and 464, respectively. The results suggest that the degradation follows a first-order kinetic and involves the loss of chlorine atoms from the 2,4-dichlrophenyl moiety. Finally, TCZ submitted to the same stress condition as the API solution, increased significantly the opacity during the bovine corneal opacity and permeability test method (BCOP) indicating a potential to cause ocular toxicity. Further studies using the pure photolysis degradation products of TCZ characterized in this work are still necessary to confirm this find.