High‐performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparation of (RS)‐bupropion using isothiocyanate‐based chiral derivatizing reagents

A high‐performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for enantioseparation of bupropion was developed using two isothiocyanate‐based chiral derivatizing reagents, (S)‐1‐(1‐naphthyl) ethyl isothiocyanate, (S)‐NEIT, and (R)‐α‐methyl benzyl isothiocyanate, (R)‐MBIT. The diastereomers synthesized with (S)‐NEIT were enantioseparated by reversed‐phase HPLC using gradient elution with mobile phase containing water and acetonitrile, whereas diastereomers synthesized with (R)‐MBIT were enantioseparated using triethyl amine phosphate buffer and methanol. Derivatization conditions were optimized and the method was validated for accuracy, precision and limit of detection. The limit of detection was found to be 0.040–0.043 µg/mL for each of the diastereomers prepared with (S)‐NEIT. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HPLC enantioseparation of racemic bupropion,baclofen and etodolac: modification of conventional ligand exchange approach by pre‐column formation of chiral ligand exchange complexes

Separation of racemic mixture of (RS)‐bupropion, (RS)‐baclofen and (RS)‐etodolac, commonly marketed racemic drugs, has been achieved by modifying the conventional ligand exchange approach. The Cu(II) complexes were first prepared with a few l ‐amino acids, namely, l ‐proline, l ‐histidine, l ‐phenylalanine and l ‐tryptophan, and to these was introduced a mixture of the enantiomer pair of (RS)‐bupropion, or (RS)‐baclofen or (RS)‐etodolac. As a result, formation of a pair of diastereomeric complexes occurred by ‘chiral ligand exchange’ via the competition between the chelating l ‐amino acid and each of the two enantiomers from a given pair. The diastereomeric mixture formed in the pre‐column process was loaded onto HPLC column. Thus, both the phases during chromatographic separation process were achiral (i.e. neither the stationary phase had any chiral structural feature of its own nor did the mobile phase have any chiral additive). Separation of diastereomers was successful using a C₁₈ column and a binary mixture of MeCN and TEAP buffer of pH 4.0 (60:40, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min and UV detection at 230 nm for (RS)‐Bup, 220 nm for (RS)‐Bac and 223 nm for (RS)‐Etd. Baseline separation of the two enantiomers was obtained with a resolution of 6.63 in <15 min. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development and validation of a high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric method for simultaneous determination of bupropion,quetiapine and escitalopram in human plasma

In the present study, an effective high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric (HPLC/MS/MS) method was developed and validated to simultaneously determine bupropion (BUP), quetiapine (QUE) and escitalopram (ESC) in human plasma using carbidopa as the internal standard. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters Sun Fire C₁₈ column using reversed‐phase chromatography. The MS/MS experiment was performed in positive ion multiple reaction monitoring mode to produce product ions of m/z 240.3 → 184.2 for BUP, 384.2 → 253.1 for QUE, 325.3 → 109.3 for ESC and 227.2 → 181.2 for the internal standard. The method showed good linearity (R² ≥ 0.997), precision (relative standard deviation ≤7.5%), satisfactory intra‐ and interday accuracy (88.4–113.0%) and acceptable extraction recovery (87.2–115.0%), matrix effect (84.5.5?108.7%) and stability (92.3?103.5%). The method was successfully applied to determine the concentrations of BUP, QUE and ESC in human plasma samples. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitive, selective and rapid determination of bupropion and its major active metabolite, hydroxybupropion, in human plasma by LC-MS/MS: application to a bioequivalence study in healthy Indian subjects

A sensitive, selective and rapid liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of bupropion (BUP) and its major active metabolite hydroxybupropion (HBUP) in human plasma. Separation of both the analytes and venlafaxine as internal standard (IS) from 50 μL human plasma was carried out by solid‐phase extraction. The chromatographic separation of the analytes was achieved on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB C₁₈ (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) analytical column using isocratic mobile phase consisting of 20 mm ammonium acetate–methanol (10:90, v/v), with a resolution factor of 3.5. The method was validated over a wide dynamic concentration range of 0.1–350 ng/mL for BUP and 0.1–600 ng/mL for HBUP. The matrix effect was assessed by post‐column infusion and the mean process efficiency was 96.08 and 94.40% for BUP and HBUP, respectively. The method was successfully applied to a bioequivalence study of 150 mg BUP (test and reference) extended release tablet formulation in 12 healthy Indian male subjects under fed conditions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MSn,LC‐MS‐TOF and LC‐PDA studies for identification of new degradation impurities of bupropion

Three new degradation impurities of bupropion were characterized through high performance liquid chromatography coupled to photodiode array detection and to time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. Bupropion was subjected to the ICH prescribed stress conditions. It degraded to seven impurities (I–VII) in alkaline hydrolytic conditions which were optimally resolved on an XTerra C₁₈ column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) with a ternary mobile phase comprising ammonium formate (20 mm , pH 4.0), methanol and acetonitrile (75:10:15, v/v). The degradation impurities (III–V and VII) were characterized on the basis of mass fragmentation pattern of drug, accurate mass spectral and photodiode array data of the drug and degradation impurities. Compound V was found to be a known degradation impurity [1‐hydroxy‐1‐(3‐chlorophenyl)propan‐2‐one], whereas III, IV and VII were characterized as 2‐hydroxy‐2‐(3′‐chlorophenyl)‐3,5,5‐trimethylmorpholine, (2,4,4‐trimethyl‐1,3‐oxazolidin‐2‐yl)(3‐chlorophenyl)‐methanone and 2‐(3′‐chlorophenyl)‐3,5,5‐trimethylmorphol‐2‐ene, respectively. Compound III was a known metabolite of the drug. This additional information on the degradation impurities can help in the development of a new stability‐indicating assay method to monitor the stability of the drug product during its shelf‐life as well as in development of a drug product with increased shelf‐life. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convenient and Scalable Process for the Preparation of Bupropion Hydrochloride via Efficient Bromination of m-Chloropropiophenone with N-Bromosuccinimide

A convenient, scalable, and commercially viable process for the production of the antidepressant drug bupropion hydrochloride (1) is reported. The process relies upon an improved, large-scale synthesis of the key intermediate, m-chloro-α-bromopropiophenone (4). During process development, bromine was replaced with N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in the presence of para-toluene sulfonic acid (p-TSA), for the bromination of m-chloropropiophenone (3), in either a very low volume of acetonitrile or under solvent-free conditions, to furnish 4. Intermediate 4 was further reacted with t-butylamine in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) to afford bupropion free base (5), followed by treatment with a saturated solution of hydrochloric acid in isopropyl alcohol (IPA-HCl) to afford bupropion hydrochloride (1). This improved process provides pure bupropion hydrochloride (1) in good yields and at considerably lower cost than existing processes, and it does not involve the use of hazardous reagents.     

Preparation and Crystal Structures of Two Polymorphic Forms of Bupropion Hydrobromide

Two polymorphic forms (forms I and IV) of antidepressant bupropion hydrobro- mides were prepared and characterized by powder X-ray single-crystal diffractometer. Lots of commercial substances may consist of form I. Form I crystallizes in the triclinic system, space group P1 with Z = 2, a = 7.6943(8), b = 7.9347(9), c = 13.8558(15) , α = 85.971(3), β = 85.619(2), γ = 65.974(3)°, V = 769.66(14) 3, Dc = 1.384 g/cm3, formula C13H19ClNOBr, F(000) = 328, μ = 2.83 mm-1, the final R = 0.0579 and wR = 0.1282 for 1756 observed reflections with I > 2σ(I). Another polymorphic form, Ⅳ, belongs to the orthorhombic system, space group Pbca with a = 8.6365(3), b = 12.4167(4), c = 27.7299(9) , Z = 8, V = 2973.67(17) 3, Dc = 1.432 g/cm3, formula C13H19ClNOBr, F(000) = 1312, μ = 2.93 mm-1, the final R = 0.044 and wR = 0.1093 for 2018 observed reflections with I > 2σ(I). In the crystal structure of the two polymorphic forms, expected proton transfer from HBr to amino group of bupropion molecule occurs and intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonds N–H···r are formed. These interactions result in hydrogen-bond dimers in these two forms. The bupropion molecule adopts different conformations in the two investigated solid state modifications.