New forced degradation products of vildagliptin: Identification and structural elucidation using LC-MS, with proposed formation mechanisms

Abstract

A new and simple RP-HPLC-UV method was developed for well-separation of vildagliptin raw material and its degradation products at different conditions; it uses of ammonium acetate buffer at pH= 7.5 and methanol with Athena C18 -WP (250 mm) column. Results show that six degradants have been identified using LC–MS technique, in addition to the NMR approach in some cases. One degradant at relative retention time (RRT) 1.3 was formed under acidic condition and designated as 2-((1R, 3S, 5R, 7S)-3-hydroxyadamantan-1-yl) hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione at m/z = 304. Three degradants were formed under various conditions of basic hydrolysis at RRTs 1.2, 0.6 and 0.4 with following names and molar masses (m/z), respectively: 1-(((1S, 3S, 5S, 7S)-1,3-dihydroxyadamantan-2-yl)glycyl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxamide at m/z = 337.2, 1-(((1R, 3S, 5R, 7S)-3-hydroxyadamantan-1-yl)glycyl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxamide at m/z = 321.1 and (1,4-dioxo-1,4,6,7,8,8a-hexahydropyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazin-3-yl)glycylproline at m/z = 322.6. Another three degradants were also formed under oxidative oxidations of vildagliptin, one at RRT 0.38 and designated as N-hydroxy-N-((1R, 3S, 5R, 7S)-3-hydroxyadamantan-1-yl) glycinate with m/z 241.1, the second one was identical to that formed under basic hydrolysis at RRT 0.6 and the last one has RRT 0.8 and was identified as (1S, 3R, 5R, 7S)-3-(hydroxyamino)adamantan-1-ol at m/z 183.1. Formation mechanisms for the degradation products were described.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Vildagliptin
• degradation products
• stressed conditions
• NMR
• LC-MS

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Deanship of Scientific Research at the University of Jordan.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).