Identification, isolation, and structural characterization of novel forced degradation products of Ertugliflozin using advanced analytical techniques

The research elucidates the stress degradation behavior of Ertugliflozin, which is used for the treatment of type-2 diabetics. The degradation was conducted as per ICH guidelines and Ertugliflozin is relatively stable in thermal, photolytic, neutral, and alkaline hydrolysis conditions; however, considerable degradation was detected in acid hydrolysis and oxidative hydrolysis. Degradation products were identified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, isolated by semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography, and structural characterization using high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Total four degradation products were identified and isolated in acid degradation, which are degradation products 1, 2, 3, and 4. Whereas in oxidative conditions, degradation product 5 was identified. All the five degradation products formed are novel, which was not reported earlier. This is the first time documented complete structural characterization of all five degradation products by using a hyphenated analytical technique. High-resolution mass, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used in the present study to get concrete confirmation of degradation products structures. The current method is also used to identify degradation products with shorter runtime in the future.