Combined use of liquid chromatography-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the characterization of an acarbose degradation product

Directly coupled LC-MS and LC-NMR were applied to identify and structurally characterize an acarbose degradation product A in acidic media. A comparative analysis of the stop-flow LC-NMR (1H and TOCSY) and LC-MS data provided evidence that A is structurally related to acarbose, differing from the parent compound in a number of subunits present in the molecule. Spectral analysis revealed that A was the alpha-glucosidase inhibitor amylostatin XG. Complementary information obtained from the two methods led to the structural elucidation of A which was later corroborated by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy of the isolated molecule.