PHOTOCHEMICAL STABILITY OF BIOLOGICALLY-ACTIVE COMPOUNDS .5. PHOTOCHEMICAL DEGRADATION OF PRIMAQUINE IN AN AQUEOUS-MEDIUM

Quinoline antimalarials are photochemically unstable. Several of these drugs cause toxic reactions which may be ascribed to the Photochemica l degradation of the substances. The effect of light of wavelengths 32 0-600 nm on the aminoquinoline primaquine in aqueous solution was inve stigated. The main photochemical degradation products were isolated by means of preparative TLC. The samples were identified by mass spectro metry (EI, CI and high-resolution), H-1-NMR spectroscopy and GC/MS.