In vitro immunosuppressive activity of tacrolimus dihydrodiol precursors obtained by chemical oxidation and identification of a new metabolite of SDZ‐RAD by electrospray and electrospray‐linked scan mass spectrometry

Abstract
Different tacrolimus epoxides and dihydrodiol epoxides arising from the chemical oxidation of the parent drug are described. Open-chain tautomeric forms involving the lactone function were identified for the tacrolimus epoxides. Moreover, the identification by electrospray and electrospray linked scan mass spectrometry of an SDZ-RAD C16–C27 O-demethyl 17, 18–19, 20–21, 22 tris-epoxide new metabolite isolated from pig liver microsomes is reported. The in vitro immunosuppressive activity, using mixed lymphocyte reactions of the two macrolide reported oxidation compounds are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.