Isolation and structural characterization of a major degradation product of ambrisentan using Q-TOF-MS, NMR and FTIR

Ambrisentan, an endothelin receptor antagonist, is subjected to forced degradation under neutral hydrolytic conditions, leading to a potential unknown impurity. This neutral degradation product (DP) has been detected using reverse-phase ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), where it has eluted at 1.24 relative retention time to the Ambrisentan peak. DP was isolated using semi-preparative HPLC from the degradation mixture. Later, the structure of DP was elucidated using high-resolution mass spectrometry, 2D Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopic techniques and characterized as 2-(2,2- diphenylvinyloxy)-4,6-dimethylpyrimidine.