Impurity profile study of repaglinide

Three unknown impurities and a byproduct in repaglinide bulk drug at levels below 0.1% (ranging from 0.05 to 0.1%) were detected by a simple isocratic reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. These impurities were isolated from crude sample of repaglinide using reversed-phase preparative high performance liquid chromatography. Based on the spectroscopic data (IR, NMR and MS) the structures of these impurities (I, II and IV) and byproduct (III) were characterised as 4-carboxymethyl-2-ethoxy-benzoic acid (I), 4-cyclohexylaminocarbamoylmethyl-2-ethoxy-benzoic acid (II), 1-cyclohexyl-3-[3-methyl-1-(2-piperidin-1-yl-phenyl)-butyl]-urea (IV) and 1,3-dicyclohexyl urea (III), respectively. Their synthesis and formation is discussed.