Volume 15, Issue 57, 2026 (January – March)
Research Article
Identification and Structural Elucidation of Forced Degradation Impurities in Agrochemical Technical by LC–MS
Uday Kumar Choudhry and Gopal Arora
Keywords: Chlorantraniliprole; Forced degradation; Degradation impurities; LC–MS; Structural elucidation; Green analytical chemistry; GAPI
DOI:10.37273/chesci.cs222057021
Abstract
Understanding degradation pathways and impurity formation is critical for maintaining the quality, safety, and regulatory compliance of agrochemical active ingredients. In the present study, the forced degradation behavior of chlorantraniliprole technical material was systematically investigated under acidic, alkaline, oxidative, thermal, UV, and photolytic stress conditions using a UPLC–single quadrupole liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) approach. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a short C18 column with a low-flow gradient system, enabling rapid analysis with minimal solvent consumption LC–MS analysis of the unstressed sample revealed only two trace-level impurities, indicating good inherent stability of the technical material. Significant degradation was observed exclusively under alkaline conditions, resulting in the formation of a major degradation product with an observed molecular ion at m/z 469.12 Based on accurate mass measurements and comparison with reported impurity data, this product was tentatively identified as impurity-3, suggesting a base-catalyzed degradation pathway. Comparative evaluation of LC–UV and LC–MS detection demonstrated the superior sensitivity of mass spectrometric analysis for identifying low-level degradation products with limited UV response. The environmental performance of the analytical method was evaluated using the Green Analytical Procedure Index (GAPI), revealing a high degree of greenness due to low solvent consumption, short run time, ambient temperature operation, minimal sample preparation, and complete solvent waste recycling. Overall, the study provides a robust and environmentally sustainable LC–MS-based strategy for impurity profiling and forced degradation assessment of chlorantraniliprole technical material.
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