Understanding and Controlling the Formation of an Impurity during the Development of Muraglitazar, a PPAR Dual Agonist

Impurity A, observed during the process research and development of muraglitazar, was isolated via preparative HPLC for structural identification using one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR techniques. The origin of impurity A was identified as arising three steps earlier as a minor contaminant present in one of the starting materials: 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde. As a result, a series of corresponding impurities were formed in each synthetic step leading up to impurity A. These findings permitted the addition of a new specification for this starting material to eliminate the problem.