Liquid chromatographic retention behaviour and separation of promethazine and isopromethazine on a β-cyclodextrin bonded-phase column

A liquid chromatographic method for the separation of promethazine (PR) and its positional isomer isopromethazine (IPR) is described.PR is an N-substituted phenothiazine with the actions and the uses of the antihistamines (H1-receptor antagonists). IPR is an impurity in the pharmaceutical preparations of PR and must be controlled at a level below 1%. The liquid chromatographic behaviour of PR and IPR on a hydrolytically stable β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) column with respect to mobile phase composition, pH, ionic strength and the nature of the organic modifier was also investigated. Based on the results, conditions were chosen for the isocratic separation of the two isomers. The proposed separation method is simple and rapid and permits the simultaneous determination of PR and IPR. The separation selectivity of a cyclodextrin bonded-phase column was examined. Special attention was devoted to modelling the inclusion complexes of PR and IPR with β-CD in order to predict their optimum orientation within the β-CD cavity.