Radiation Physics and Chemistry

Volume 75, Issue 9 , September 2006, Pages 977-989

doi:10.1016/j.radphyschem.2006.02.001

LC–MS analysis in the e-beam and gamma radiolysis of metoprolol tartrate in aqueous solution: Structure elucidation and formation mechanism of radiolytic products

Catherine Slegers, Aubert Maquille, Véronique Deridder, Etienne Sonveaub, Jean-Louis Habib Jiwan and Bernard Tilquin

E-beam and gamma products from the radiolysis of aqueous solutions of (±)-metoprolol tartrate, saturated in nitrogen, are analyzed by HPLC with on-line mass and UV detectors. The structures of 10 radiolytic products common to e-beam and gamma irradiations are elucidated by comparing their fragmentation pattern to that of (±)-metoprolol. Two of the radiolytic products are also metabolites. Different routes for the formation of the radiolytic products are proposed.