Structural elucidation of two novel degradants of lurasidone and their formation mechanisms under free radical-mediated oxidative and photolytic conditions via liquid chromatography-photodiode array/ultraviolet-tandem mass spectrometry and one-dimensional/two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Lurasidone is an antipsychotic drug clinically used for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. During a mechanism-based forced degradation study of lurasidone, two novel degradation products were observed under free radical-mediated oxidative (via AIBN) and solution photolytic conditions. The structures of the two novel degradants were identified through an approach combining HPLC, LC-MS (n = 1, 2), preparative HPLC purification and NMR spectroscopy. The degradant formed under the free radical-mediated condition is an oxidative degradant with half of the piperazine ring cleaved to form two formamides; a mechanism is proposed for the formation of the novel N,N'-diformyl degradant, which should be readily applicable to other drugs that contain a piperazine moiety that is widely present in drug molecules. The degradant observed under the solution photolytic condition is identified as the photo-induced isomer of lurasidone with the benzisothiazole ring altered into a benzothiazole ring.