A study of impurities and degradation products in Oroxylin A by a validated liquid chromatographic method with analysis of their formation pathways

Summary

Oroxylin A (5,7-dihydroxy-6-methoxyflavone), which has showed multiple pharmacological effects, was semi-synthesized chemically as a pharmaceutical agent. Its impurities, degradation products and their formation pathways remain unknown. In the present study, two impurities (5,6,7-trihydroxyflavone, 5-hydroxy-6,7-dimethoxytlavone) and a degradation product (5,7-dihydroxy-8-methoxyflavone) in Oroxylin A bulk drug substance were identified, and their formation pathways were proposed. A reversed phase liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of Oroxylin A and the three compounds was developed on a C ₁₈ column using methanol-acetonitrile-0.1% acetic acid (54:23:23, v/ v/ v) as the mobile phase. The detection was performed at 271 nm. The method was validated to be robust, precise, specific and linear between 4 and 40 μg mL ⁻¹; the limits of detection and quantification of Oroxylin A were 0.01 and 0.04 μg mL ⁻¹, respectively. The developed method was found to be suitable to check the quality of bulk samples of Oroxylin A at the time of batch release and also during its stability studies (long term and accelerated stability).