Integrated 1D-LC-HRMS and Heart-Cutting 2D-LC-MS for Impurity Profiling and Chiral Separation of Mitiglinide Drug Substance.
Wang Chenxi C, Zhou Shiwen S, Sun Wanhao W, Pan Yuanjiang Y et al.
The comprehensive quality control of chiral pharmaceuticals like mitiglinide necessitates simultaneous assessment of chemical impurities and enantiomeric purity, yet conventional workflows address these separately, leading to inefficiency. This study develops a comprehensive analytical strategy to overcome this challenge for the anti-diabetic drug mitiglinide. For chiral analysis, an online heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (2D-LC-HRMS) method was developed. First, impurity profiling of mitiglinide was accomplished using a one-dimensional reversed-phase LC-HRMS (1D-LC-HRMS) method. Subsequently, the 2D-LC-HRMS system achieved enantiomer separation by online coupling of a C18 column (first dimension) with a polysaccharide-based chiral column (second dimension), with the separated analytes detected by an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. 1D-LC-HRMS identified five major impurities, structurally characterizing four, with the main component accounting for only 49.12% of the total integrated peak area (relative abundance by EIC peak area normalization, not absolute purity). The 2D-LC-HRMS method achieved effective enantiomer separation. A consistent third minor chromatographic peak was observed across six replicate analyses, which is tentatively assigned as a potential diastereomeric impurity based on stereochemical interpretation of the chromatographic behavior; confirmatory evidence is required for definitive identification. This work successfully establishes a comprehensive strategy that efficiently consolidates impurity profiling and chiral purity assessment for mitiglinide. It provides a reliable, more informative approach for the quality control of complex chiral pharmaceuticals.