Study on degradation kinetics of 2-(2-hydroxypropanamido) benzoic acid in aqueous solutions and identification of its major degradation product by UHPLC/TOF-MS/MS.

A RP-HPLC method was developed and validated for the degradation kinetic study of 2-(2-hydroxypropanamido) benzoic acid (HPABA), a promising anti-inflammatory drug, which would provide a basis for further studies on HPABA. The effects of pH, temperature, buffer concentration and ionic strength on the degradation kinetics of HPABA were discussed. Experimental parameters such as degradation rate constants (k), activation energy (Ea), acid and alkali catalytic constants (k(ac), k(al)), shelf life (t1/2) and temperature coefficient (Q10) were calculated. The results indicated that degradation kinetics of HPABA followed zero-order reaction kinetics; degradation rate constants (k) of HPABA at different pH values demonstrated that HPABA was more stable in neutral and near-neutral conditions; the function of temperature on k obeyed the Arrhenius equation (r = 0.9933) and HPABA was more stable at lower temperature; with the increase of ionic strength and buffer concentration, the stability of HPABA was decreased. The major unknown degradation product of HPABA was identified by UHPLC/TOF-MS/MS with positive electrospray ionization. Results demonstrated that the hydrolysis product was the primary degradation product of HPABA and it was deduced as anthranilic acid.