Search

Identification and characterization of unknown zotarolimus impurities on zotarolimus-coated drug-eluting stents is an important aspect of product development since the presence of impurities can have a significant impact on quality and safety of the drug product. Four zotarolimus degradation products have been characterized by LC/UV/PDA, LC/MS, LC/MS/MS and NMR techniques in this work. Zotarolimus drug substance and zotarolimus-coated stents were subjected to degradation under heat, humidity, acid or base conditions. The HPLC separation was achieved on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C8 column using gradient elution and UV detection at 278 nm. All four impurities generated through the degradation were initially analyzed by LC/MS and/or LC/MS/MS for structural information. Then the isolation of these degradants was carried out by semi-preparative HPLC method followed by freeze-drying of the collected fractions. Finally the degradants were studied by 1H and 13C NMR spectrometry. Based on LC/MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR data, the structures of these impurities were proposed and characterized as zotarolimus ring-opened isomer (1), zotarolimus hydrolysis product, 16-O-desmethyl ring-opened isomer (2) and zotarolimus lower fragment (3). Degradants 1, 2 and 3 have been observed on degraded zotarolimus-coated stent products.

Oritavancin is a semi-synthetic glycopeptide antibiotic which is structurally related to vancomycin. When oritavancin bisphosphate is dried in vacuo with heat, a new compound forms. This new compound is stable only in the solid state and reverts to oritavancin in solution. Highly enriched samples of this compound were obtained by preparative HPLC and the structure of this compound was elucidated by using one and two-dimensional ( 1 H and 13 C) NMR spectroscopy in conjunction with computer-assisted molecular modeling. It has been determined that oritavancin adopts a conformation similar to that of vancomycin in solution, while the new compound is the unnatural R -AB-biaryl atropisomer of oritavancin. This is the first observation and isolation of an AB-biaryl atropisomer in an intact member of the vancomycin family of glycopeptide antibiotics.