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Isolation and identification of three new isomer impurities in milbemycin oxime drug substance

Abstract

In an effort to identification of the unknown impurities in milbemycin oxime (MO) bulk drug, three impurities 1, 2 and 3 were isolated by two-dimensional (2 D) preparation method (Agilent Zorbax-C3 preparative column and Sepax Amethyst C18-H preparative column). Based on the extensive NMR analysis and ESIMS data, the structures of the three impurities were established as 14-desmethyl-14-ethyl-MO A4 (1), 24-desmethyl-24-ethyl-MO A4 (2) and 12-desmethyl-12-ethyl-MO A4 (3), respectively. They are the new isomer impurities of MO D and most likely originate from the oxidation and oximation of natural milbemycin homologs present in the original fermentation broth.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LGN22B020002), School-enterprise Cooperation Project from Domestic Visiting Engineers of Colleges and Universities (Grant No.: FG2023314), Huzhou Public Welfare Research Project (2021GZ25) and Taizhou Science and Technology Plan Project (24nyb10).

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Correspondence to Jidong Wang or Linghui Zheng.

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Ren, X., Lu, J., Wu, Y. et al. Isolation and identification of three new isomer impurities in milbemycin oxime drug substance. J Antibiot 78, 106–112 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41429-024-00791-7

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