Erythromycin degradation

The stability of various classes at different pH values makes it less than ideal to extract some antibiotics under the same conditions. Tetracyclines are more stable at pH 3-4 than at pH > 5, and changes in pH can lead to the formation of their epimers and even further degradation. Macrolides and f)-lactams are stable at neutral or slightly basic conditions (i.e., pH > 8 or 8.5). Erythromycin degrades to erythromycin-H2O with loss of one H2O molecule at low pH " and is often measured as erythromycin-H20 at m/z 716 in environmental samples but not in food. The... 

Antibiotics. Solvent extraction is an important step in the recovery of many antibiotics (qv) such as penicillin [1406-05-9] streptomycin [57-92-17, novobiocin [303-81-1J, bacitracin [1405-87-4] erythromycin, and the cephalosporins. A good example is in the manufacture of penicillin (242) by a batchwise fermentation. Amyl acetate [628-63-7] or -butyl acetate [123-86-4] is used as the extraction solvent for the filtered fermentation broth. The penicillin is first extracted into the solvent from the broth at pH 2.0 to 2.5 and the extract treated with a buffet solution (pH 6) to obtain a penicillin-rich solution. Then the pH is again lowered and the penicillin is re-extracted into the solvent to yield a pure concentrated solution. Because penicillin degrades rapidly at low pH, it is necessary to perform the initial extraction as rapidly as possible for this reason centrifugal extractors are generally used. 

Chemical degradation of erythromycin A yielded its aglycone, erythronoHde A (16, R = R = OH), whereas erythronoHde B (16, R = H, R = OH) was obtained from fermentation (63,64). Biosynthesis of erythromycin proceeds via 6-deoxyerythronoHde B (16, R = R = H) and then erythronoHde B (64,65). The first total synthesis of erythromycin-related compounds was erythronoHde B (66) syntheses of erythronoHde A and 6-deoxyerythronoHde B soon foUowed (67,68). 

The acid-instabihty of erythromycin makes it susceptible to degradation in the stomach to intramolecular cyclization products lacking antimicrobial activity. Relatively water-insoluble, acid-stable salts, esters, and/or formulations have therefore been employed to protect erythromycin during passage through the stomach, to increase oral bioavakabihty, and to decrease the variabiUty of oral absorption. These various derivatives and formulations also mask the very bitter taste of macroHdes. 

A complication here, however, is noted with those drugs that exhibit a limited chemical stability in either acidic or alkaline fluids. Since the rate and extent of degradation is directly dependent on the concentration of drug in solution, an attempt is often made to retard dissolution in the fluid where degradation is seen. There are preparations of various salts or esters of drugs (e.g., erythromycin) that do not dissolve in gastric fluid and thus are not degraded there but which dissolve in intestinal fluid prior to absorption. A wide variety of chemical derivatives are used for such purposes. 

The complete degradation of sulfamethoxazole was also reported within 14 days with P. chrysosporium, Bjerkandera sp. R1 and B. adusta [4], although, contrary to the reports of enzymatic transformation, metabolites were not identified. Partial removal (from 30% to 55%) of sulfamethoxazole from activated-sludge-mixed liquor and the effluent of a WWTP was demonstrated at bench scale within 5 days with P. chrysosporium propagules entrapped in a granular bioplastic formulation [25]. This approach was also successful in the partial elimination of other kinds of antibiotics, eg., ciprofloxacin (see below) and the macrolide erythromycin. 

Tsuji and Goetz24 developed a quantitative high performance liquid chromatographic method for separating and measuring erythromycins A, B, and C, their epimers and degradation products. This method uses a /iBondapak Ci 8 reverse column with acetonitrile-methanol-O.2m ammonium acetate-water (45 10 10 25) as solvent. The pH and composition of the mobile phase may be adjusted to optimize resolution and elution volume. The authors utilized the procedure on USP reference standard and report a relative standard deviation of 0.64%. 

Modification of Chemical Structure of Drug The use of a Hammett linear free-energy relationship to investigate the effects of substituents on the rates of aromatic side-chain reactions such as hydrolysis of esters has been alluded to earlier vis-a-vis attainment of optimum stability [9,10]. Degradation of erythromycin under acidic pH conditions is inhibited by substituting a methoxy group for the C-6 hydroxyl as found for the acid stability of clathromycin, which is 340 times greater than that of erythromycin [70]. 

Coupling of LC with either ISP-MS or ISP-MS-MS has been also investigated as an attractive alternative for the determination of erythromycin A and its metabolites in salmon tissue (122). The combination of these methods permitted identification of a number of degradation products and metabolites of erythromycin, including anhydroerythromycin and N-demethyerythromycin at the level of 10-50 ppb. 

Hirvonen et al. (1995) evaluated the feasibility of the UV/H202 process for the removal of trichloroethylene (TCE) and erythromycin (perchloroethylene [PCE]) in contaminated groundwater. The formation of chloroacetic acids (CAs) was used as an indication of partial degradation. The dominant byproduct, dichloroacetic acid (DCA), accounted for the major part of the total yield of CAs. The observed concentrations of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and DCA were relatively low compared with the total amount of TCE and PCE degraded. The effect of initial concentrations of the parent compounds, hydrogen peroxide, and bicarbonate on the yield of by-product was inves-... 

A major aim of enteric coating is protection of drugs that are sensitive or unstable at acidic pH. This is particularly important for drugs such as enzymes and proteins, because these macromolecules are rapidly hydrolyzed and inactivated in acidic medium. Antibiotics, especially macrolide antibiotics like erythromycin, are also rapidly degraded by gastric juices. Others, such as acidic drugs like NSAID s (e.g., diclofenac, valproic acid, or acetylsalicylic acid) need to be enteric coated to prevent local irritation of the stomach mucosa. 

The pH-stability profile is a plot of reaction rate constant for drug degradation versus pH and may help to predict if some of the drug will decompose in the GI tract. The stability of erythromycin is pH-dependent. In acidic medium, erythromycin decomposition occurs rapidly, whereas at neutral or alkaline pH the drug is relatively stable. Consequently, erythromycin tablets are enteric coated to protect against acid degradation in the stomach. In addition, less soluble erythromycin salts that are more stable in the stomach have been prepared. 

Liquid chromatography-ionspray-mass spectrometry has been shown to be an attractive approach for the determination of semduramicin in chicken liver. Tandem MS using the CID of the molecular ions further enhanced the specificity providing strucmre elucidation and selective detection down to 30 ppb. Liquid chromatography-ionspray-mass spectrometry has also been successfully applied for the assay of 21 sulfonamides in salmon flesh. Coupling of LC with either ISP-MS or ISP-MS-MS has also been investigated as an attractive alternative for the determination of erythromycin A and its metabolites in salmon tissue. The combination of these methods permitted the identification of a number of degradation products and metabolites of erythromycin at the 10-50 ppb level. Tandem MS with CID has also been... 

Erythromycin (XX) is labile at pH values below pH 4, and hence is unstable in the stomach contents. Erythromycin stearate (the salt of the tertiary aliphatic amine and stearic acid), being less soluble, is not as susceptible to degradation. The salt dissociates in the intestine to yield the free base, which is absorbed. There are differences in the absorption behaviour of the erythromycin salts and differences in toxicity, which may be related to their aqueous solubilities. Erythromycin ethylsuccinate was originally developed for paediatric use because its low water solubility and relative tastelessness were suited to paediatric formulations. The soluble lactobionate is used in intravenous infusions. 

Modern spectroscopic techniques have revolutionized compound identification and quantification. Only a few decades ago, identification of a structurally complex natural product would require multigram quantities of isolated material, which would then be subjected to series of derivatization and degradation experiments, aiming to deduce the unknown s structure from that of resulting derivatives or fragments that may represent known compounds. As a result of the tremendous advances in sensitivity and resolution of NMR spectroscopy over the past 30 years, identification of microgram quantities of new compounds has now become routine. For example, the structure of the polyketide antibiotic, erythromycin (1), was identified in 1957 only after extensive chemical and spectroscopic studies based on multigram amounts of isolated compound.1-3 By the time its... 

While some success has been reported in analogous studies with polyketide assembly intermediates in Streptomyces metabolites, e.g. erythromycin [41] and tylosin [42], similar experiments on fungal polyketides have been more limited. The di- and tetraketide intermediates (44) and (45), variously doubly labelled with and as indicated in Scheme 14, have been incorporated into de-hydro curvular in (46) by cultures of Alternaria cineriae [43]. However, in contrast to the ease of incorporation of assembly intermediates into aspyrone by A. melleus, the experiments in A. cineriae required considerable experimentation to optimise the feeding conditions and the use of the jS-oxidation inhibitors. The initial experiments [43] depended on the use of UV mutants of A. cineriae which had lost the ability to utilise fatty acids and therefore to degrade the fatty... 

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