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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.

The purpose of this study is to identify critical physicochemical properties of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) that impact the dissolution of a controlled release tablet and develop a strategy to mitigate the HPMC lot-to-lot and vendor-to-vendor variability. A screening experiment was performed to evaluate the impacts of methoxy/hydroxypropyl substitutions, and viscosity on drug release. The chemical diversity of HPMC was explored by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and the erosion rate of HPMC was investigated using various dissolution apparatuses. Statistical evaluation suggested that the hydroxypropyl content was the primary factor impacting the drug release. However, the statistical model prediction was not robust. NMR experiments suggested the existence of structural diversity of HPMC between lots and more significantly between vendors. Review of drug release from hydrophilic matrices indicated that erosion is a key aspect for both poorly soluble and soluble drugs. An erosion rate method was then developed, which enabled the establishment of a robust model and a meaningful HPMC specification. The study revealed that the overall substitution level is not the unique parameter that dictates its release-controlling properties. Fundamental principles of polymer chemistry and dissolution mechanisms are important in the development and manufacturing of hydrophilic matrices with consistent dissolution performance. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 103:1664–1672, 2014

ABT-578, an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is a semi-synthetic tetrazole derivative of the fermented polyene macrolide rapamycin. Reverse phase (RP)-HPLC-UV-MS and normal phase (NP)-HPLC-UV-MS methods employing an LC/MSD trap with electrospray ionization (ESI) have been developed to track and map all significant impurities from the synthetic process. Trace-level tracking of key impurities occurring at various process points was achieved using complimentary methodologies, including a stability indicating reverse phase HPLC method capable of separating at least 25 starting materials and process-related impurities from the API (YMC-Pack Phenyl column, UV-MS, 210 nm) and a targeted reverse phase HPLC method capable of separating very polar compounds from crude reaction mixtures (Phenomenex Synergi Polar RP column, UV, 265 nm). In addition, a normal phase HPLC method condition with post-column modifier infusion is described for the separation of epimeric impurities, and analysis of aqueous-sensitive reactive species (YMC-Pack SIL column, UV-MS, 278 nm). Process control strategies were established with these combinations of analytical technologies for impurities analyses to enable a rich understanding of the ABT-578 process.

The keto-enol tautomerism of ethyl butylryl acetate was studied in mixed solvents under a variety of experimental conditions. The direct measurement of ketonization of the enol tautomer was performed by using the hyphenated technique LC-NMR. The keto and enol tautomers can be separated by using HPLC and their interconversion is a slow process on the NMR timescale. The ketonization reaction was found to be acid catalyzed and the solvent isotope effect, kH2O/kD2O, in an acetonitrile/water mixture, is 5.4. The ketonization rate constants were also measured at different compositions of binary solvents, such as CH3CN/D2O, CD3OD/D2O, and CH3CN/CD3OD. The rate constant and water percentage were found to have an exponential relationship. The reaction rate as a function of solvent polarity will be discussed in this paper.

In the manufacturing process for Biaxin® (clarithromycin), erythromycin-A oxime, an intermediate, is obtained in high yield, when erythromycin-A is treated with hydroxylamine/isopropyl alcohol in the presence of acetic acid. An unusual impurity, the desosamine hydrazinium salt, is generated in this step of the synthetic pathway, and has been isolated and characterized by using one and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy in conjunction with MS and EDS.

Rapamycin (1), a macrolide immunosuppressant, undergoes degradation into ring-opened acid products 2 and 3 under physiologically relevant conditions. The unsaturated product (3) was isolated and studied in this work. Unlike 1, which has its amide primarily in a trans conformation in solution, 3 has both cis and trans conformations in approximately a 1:1 ratio in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The amount of cis rotamer was increased dramatically in the presence of an organic base such as triethylamine. The detailed NMR results indicate that the cis rotamer is stabilized through an intramolecular ionic hydrogen bond of the carboxylate anion with the tertiary alcohol as part of a nine-membered ring system. This hydrogen bond was characterized further in organic media and the trans–cis rotamer equilibria were used to estimate the relative bond strengths in several solvents. The additional stabilization arising from this ionic hydrogen bond in the cis rotamer was determined to be 1.4 kcal mol−1 in DMSO-d6, 2.0 kcal mol−1 in CD3CN and 1.1 kcal mol−1 in CD3OD. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The oxazolidinones are a novel class of antibiotics that inhibit initiation of protein synthesis in bacteria. In order to investigate their novel mechanism of action, the interactions of several oxazolidinones with bacterial 70S ribosomes, 50S subunits, and 30S subunits have been characterized by 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) line-broadening analyses and transferred nuclear Overhauser enhancement (TRNOE) experiments. PNU-177553 and PNU-100592 (eperezolid) and their corresponding enantiomers, PNU-184414 and PNU-107112, were studied. The dissociation constants were determined to be 94 ± 44 μM and 195 ± 40 μM for PNU-177553 and eperezolid, respectively. There was a ∼4-fold decrease in affinity for their corresponding enantiomers. The NMR-derived dissociation constants are consistent with their antibacterial activity. PNU-177553 and eperezolid were found to bind only to the 50S subunit, with similar affinity as to the 70S ribosome, and to have no affinity for the 30S subunit. Specific binding of PNU-177553 was further confirmed in TRNOE experiments in which positive NOEs observed for the small molecule alone were changed to negative NOEs in the presence of bacterial 70S ribosomes. The observed NOEs indicated that PNU-177553 did not adopt a significantly different conformation when bound to the 70S ribosome, compared to the extended conformation that exists when free in solution. Since this is likeliest the case for each of the four compounds included in this study, the A ring C5 side chain may be positioned in the proper orientation for antibacterial activity in PNU-177553 and eperezolid but not in their inactive enantiomers.