Separation and identification of moxifloxacin impurities in drug substance by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

In this paper, a high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (HPLC–UV/FTICRMS) method was described for the investigation of impurity profile in moxifloxacin (MOX) drug substance and chemical reference substance. Ten impurities were detected by HPLC–UV, while eight impurities were identified by using the high accurate molecular mass combined with multiple-stage mass spectrometric data and fragmentation rules. In addition, to our knowledge, five impurities were founded for the first time in MOX drug substance.