Chromatographic determination of caffeine in pharmaceutical formulations using micellar mobile phases

Summary An HPLC procedure is described for the determination of caffeine in pharmaceutical preparations. A Spherisorb octadecylsilane ODS-2 C₁₈ analytical column and spectrophotometric detection at 273 nm were used. The chromatographic behaviour of caffeine with different micellar eluents containing sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) is described. The determination of caffeine in pharmaceutical preparations was performed by use of a mobile phase containing 0.05 M sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) and 1.5% propanol at pH7. At a 6.0 g mL^–1 concentration level the peak area and peak height repeatability were 2.6 and 2.4%, respectively. The application of the proposed method to the analysis of five pharmaceutical formulations, using peak heights as the dependent variable, gave recoveries between 85 and 104% of the values declared by the manufacturers. The proposed procedure for the determination of caffeine is rapid (15 min per sample), reliable and free from interferences.     

Simple and rapid HPLC method for simultaneous determination of multiple antiepileptic drugs in human serum

Summary A very rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method was developed for simultaneous determination of eight anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs): lamotrigine, primidone, ethosuximide, sulthiame, felbamate, phenobarbital, carbamazepine, phenytoin and oxcarbazepine-metabolite (10-hydroxy-carbazepine) in human serum. Sample purification requires only protein precipitation with an appropriate reagent. Separation was by reversed-phase HPLC, using a C18 column, 20% acetonitrile and 40 mM phosphoric acid buffer as mobile phase. Column temperature was set at 50°C, and measurement was by UV detection at 205 nm. The inter and intra-assay coefficients of variation (CV) ranged 1.13–7.10% and 1.14–8.49%, respectively. The absolute (measured) and relative (analytic) recoveries of the drugs ranged 96.7%–104.4% and 97.3%–106.1%, respectively. No interference with other common antiepileptic drugs and analgesics were observed. The method requires only 100 μl serum or less. It is very fast (sample preparation and analysis time approx. 23 min for all 9 AEDs), and suitable for routine clinical use, especially for epileptic patients on polytherapy.     

RP-HPLC-DAD method for the determination of phenylepherine,paracetamol, caffeine and chlorpheniramine in bulk and marketed formulation

A simple, specific and accurate isocratic RP-HPLC-DAD method was developed for the simultaneous determination of phenylephrine, paracetamol, caffeine and chlorpheniramine in bulk and tablet dosage form. The four contents are present in variable concentrations and have variable chromatographic behavior making the process of analysis very difficult. For present studies a reversed-phase C-18 column (150 mm × 4.5 mm i.d., particle size 5 μm) with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, methanol and 10 Mm phosphate buffer 16:22:62 (v/v) (pH of buffer 2.5 ± 0.02, adjusted with ortho phosphoric acid) was used. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min and eluents were monitored at 280 nm. The mean retention times of phenylephrine, paracetamol, caffeine and chlorpheniramine were found to be 1.8, 3.1, 5.2 and 10.9 min, respectively. The method was validated in terms of linearity, range, specificity, accuracy, precision and robustness. The proposed method was successfully applied to the estimation of phenylephrine, paracetamol, caffeine and chlorpheniramine in combined tablet dosage form.     

Simultaneous determination of acetaminophen, dextromethorphen hydrobromide and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride in a new drug formulation for cold treatment by HPLC

Summary A rapid and accurate HPLC method is described for the simultaneous determination of acetaminophen, dextromethorphen hydrobromide and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride in a new cold formulation. Chromatographic separation of the three pharmaceuticals was performed on a Hypersil CN column (150×5.0 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase mixture of an ion-pairing solution, methanol and acetonitrile (25:57:18, v/v), at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹, with detection at 220 nm. Separation was complete in less than 10 min. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of quantitation and robustness. Linearity, accuracy, and precision were found to be acceptable over the ranges of 2.06∼20.6 μg·mL⁻¹ for acetaminophen, 0.202∼2.02 mg·mL⁻¹ for pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and 0.042∼1.06 mg·mL⁻¹ for dextromethorphen hydrobromide.     

HPLC analysis of aspartame and saccharin in pharmaceutical and dietary formulations

Summary A reversed-phase HPLC method has been developed suitable for a reliable quality control of pharmaceutical and dietary formulations containing the synthetic sweeteners aspartame and saccharin. The proposed method is able to separate acesulfame, aspartame and saccharin, and their impurities such as 5-benzyl-3,6-dioxo-2-piperazineacetic acid (the major degradation product of aspartame) and 4-sulphamoylbenzoic acid,o- andp-toluenesulphonamides (the synthesis impurities of saccharin). A convenient solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure using C-18 sorbent, was also developed for the determination of potential saccharin impurities.     

HPLC determination of thiol drugs in pharmaceutical formulations using ethacrynic acid as a precolumn ultraviolet derivatization reagent

Summary A high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of aliphatic thiol drugs, such as N-acetyl-L-cysteine, captopril and mercaptopropionylglycine in pharmaceutical formulations. The procedure involves a precolumn derivatization of the thiol drug with ethacrynic acid followed by reversedphase HPLC separation and UV detection. The conditions for a rapid and selective reaction of the thiols with ethacrynic acid have been investigated. The method proved to be suitable for a reliable and selective quality control of commercial dosage forms of the examined thiol drugs.     

Requirements and tests for HPLC apparatus and methods in pharmaceutical quality control

Summary One possible method has been demonstrated for pharmaceutical quality control which is not restricted to this field and fulfils and documents the prerequisites for reliable, accurate and precise HPLC analysis. This includes validation which shows that the method is able in principle to fulfil the requirements, the apparatus test which shows that the apparatus generally works correctly and precisely and the system suitability test which shows that the method provides accurate and precise results on this apparatus and with this column for the analysis in question when other non-equipment and non-method-induced errors are excluded.     

New potential humic acid stationary phase toward drug components: Development of a chemometric‐assisted RP‐HPLC method for the determination of paracetamol and caffeine in tablet formulations

A new humic acid based stationary phase has been used, for the first time, to achieve the separation and quantification of paracetamol and caffeine in pharmaceutical preparations under reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography conditions. Central composite design was applied as a powerful tool to optimize the most dominant parameters that influence the resolution of reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography, that is, mobile phase composition (acetonitrile percentage in water), flow rate, and column temperature. The optimum conditions were obtained as 21.69%, 1.5 mL/min, and 15°C, respectively, with the aid of a second‐order quadratic model and desirability function. Under the optimum conditions, the peaks could be baseline separated within 10 min. For the developed reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography method, the linearity was investigated in the concentration ranges of 2–160 mg/mL (R² = 0.999) for paracetamol and 2–9.9 mg/mL (R² = 0.991) for caffeine. Mean recoveries for paracetamol and caffeine were 95.90 and 95.68%, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification were 4.1 × 10^‐4 and 1.3 × 10^‐3 mg/mL for paracetamol and 1.6 × 10^‐4 and 5.0 × 10^‐4 mg/mL for caffeine. The results showed that the new humic acid based stationary phase is very suitable for the separation of paracetamol and caffeine in pharmaceutical preparations and, thus it can be used effectively in the pharmaceutical industry.     

Chromatographic separation and analysis of chloropheniramine maleate, methscopolamine nitrate and phenylephrine hydrochloride in sustained release capsules

Summary A high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM), methscoplamine nitrate (MSN) and phenylephrine hydrochloride (PEH) in sustained release capsules. The separation was carried out on a reverse-phase CN-column with use of a mobile phase consisting of 70% (v/v) solution of acetonitrile in water containing 2% (v/v) acetic acid and 0.005M sodium 1-hepatane sulfonate at a flow rate of 2 mL min⁻¹. The eluted peaks were detected at 262 nm. The method is sensitive, accurate and rapid and can be used in the routine analysis of the mixture of the three compounds.     

Reversed-phase HPLC method for the estimation of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and chlorzoxazone in formulations

A simple, precise and rapid reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and chlorzoxazone in formulations. The method was carried out on a Kromasil® C₈ column using a mixture of 0.2% triethylamine:acetonitrile (adjusted to pH 3.2 using dilute orthophosphoric acid), and detection was carried out at 215 nm using ketoprofen as internal standard. All these drugs showed linearity in the range of 2–10 μg ml⁻¹, and limits of quantification was found to be 10, 50 and 20 ng ml⁻¹ for acetaminophen, ibuprofen and chlorzoxazone, respectively.     

A validated HPLC method for assay of morphine hydrochloride and hydromorphone hydrochloride in pharmaceutical injections

Summary A sensitive and rapid routine HPLC method is proposed for quantitative estimation of morphine hydrochloride and hydromorphone hydrochloride in pharmaceutical dosage forms. The drugs were chromatographed on a C₁₈ reversed-phase column; the mobile phase was acetonitrile-water, 35:65 (v/v), containing sodium dodecyl sulphate (0.5%, w/v), as ion pairing reagent, and acetic acid (0.4% v/v). Detection was at 230 nm. The optimized method was validated and linearity (r>0.999), precision, and accuracy were found to be acceptable within the concentration ranges 86–124 μg mL⁻¹ for morphine hydroloride and 60–180 μg mL⁻¹ for hydromorphone hydrochloride. The method is being used to investigate the stability of morphine hydrochloride and hydromorphone hydrochloride in solution used for intramuscular injection.     

HPTLC analysis of ternary mixture containing ketorolac tromethamine,phenylephrine hydrochloride,and chlorpheniramine maleate

Validated and selective high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was developed for the determination of ketorolac tromethamine (KTC), phenylephrine hydrochloride (PHE), and chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM) in bulk drug and in combined dosage form. The proposed method depends on using HPTLC for separation of the drugs followed by densitometric measurements of their spots at 261?nm. The separation was carried out on Merck HPTLC aluminum sheets of silica gel 60 F254 using chloroform–methanol–ammonia (7.75:2.25:0.1, v/v) as mobile phase. Linear regression lines were obtained over the concentration ranges 0.12–0.50, 0.075–0.27, and 0.09–0.27?µg band^?1 for KTC, PHE, and CPM, respectively, with correlation coefficients higher than 0.999. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of the three drugs in their synthetic mixtures and in their dosage form. The mean percentage recoveries were in the range of 98–102% with percentage relative standard deviation values less than 2%. The method was validated according to ICH guidelines and showed good performances in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy, sensitivity, and stability.     

H-point standard addition method for simultaneous determination of phenylephrine hydrochloride,chlorpheniramine maleate,and paracetamol as a ternary mixture in pharmaceutical formulations

The simultaneous analysis of a ternary mixture containing paracetamol (PAR), phenylephrine hydrochloride (PHE), and chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM) was conducted without prior separation and using an advanced spectrophotometric method. The H-point standard addition and absorbance correction methods were selected to determine the compounds, which are highly overlapped spectra in pharmaceutical formulations. The method is based on the use of three different wavelengths of 296, 272, and 227 nm for the ternary mixture. The concentration of PAR was calculated directly at 296 nm because no interferences existed. Absorbance correction method was used to remove the role of PAR at 272 and 227 nm. The concentrations of the PHE and CPM compounds in the mixture were determined by using the H-point standard addition method. The results showed that simultaneous determination of PAR, PHE, and CPM could be conducted within the range of 1–33 μg/mL, 1–23 μg/mL, and 1–36 μg/mL, respectively. The relative standard deviations for the simultaneous determination of PHE, CPM, and PAR were 0.617, 2.76, and 1.71, respectively. The proposed method was implemented successfully for the simultaneous determination of PAR, PHE, and CPM in pharmaceutical formulations.     

HPLC method for determination of cefuroxime in plasma

Summary This paper describes an HPLC method for the determination of cefuroxime in human plasma. The method uses solid phase extraction (SPE) and has acceptable sensitivity, precision and accuracy. The limit of quantification in plasma samples is 0.1 μg mL⁻¹. Calibration curves were linear within 0.1–20 μg mL⁻¹, with mean correlation coefficient of 0.9982. Mean inter day precision and accuracy were 7.8% and 6.4%, respectively. The method was applied to determine cefuroxime levels in patients receiving cefuroxime, 3 time per day.     

Simple and rugged SPE method for the determination of tetracycline antibiotics in serum by HPLC using a volatile mobile phase

Summary A simple and rugged SPE method for the determination of tetracycline (TC), minocycline (MC) and demeclocycline (DCC) in porcine serum by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed. The spiked serum sample was pretreated with 2% phosphoric acid followed by a simple and rugged solid-phase extraction procedure using the Oasis^TM HLB extraction cartridges. High and reproducible recoveries were obtained even though the cartridges were run dry. The extracted sample analytes were injected onto a Waters SymmetryShield^TM RP₈ column. The mobile phase was a simple volatile solution containing 0.1% TFA, 2% methanol and 7% acetonitrile in Water. The antibiotics were detected at 350 nm. The calibration curves were linear from 2.0 to 25.0 μg mL⁻¹ of TC and MC with DCC as the internal standard at a concentration of 25.0 μg mL⁻¹. For six replicate analyses, the average recoveries of TC and MC from porcine serum sample fortified at the level of 2.5 μg mL⁻¹ were 96.1% with 1.3% RSD and 101% with 0.54% RSD; at level of 0.5 μg mL⁻¹ the average recoveries were 88% with 1.6% RSD and 97.8% with 1.4% RSD.     

LC Method for the Determination of Multiple Components in a Compound Cold Formulation

An isocratic liquid chromatographic method for determination of acetaminophen (AMP), caffeine (CAF), chlorphenamine maleate (CPM) and guaiacol glyceryl ether (GGE) in a compound cold formulation is described. Separation and quantitation were achieved on a Diamonsil C18 column using a binary mixture of methanol and 1.5% aqueous acetic acid (55: 45, v/v, pH 3.6) as mobile phase delivered at 0.4 mL min^–1. Single wavelength detection was at 220 nm for all four drugs and the run time was < 10 min. The linearity, accuracy and precision of the method were found to be acceptable over the concentration ranges: 16.0–127.8 g mL^–1 for AMP, 6.0–48.2 g mL^–1 for CAF, 5.0–40.0 g mL^–1 for CPM and 10.1–80.6 g mL^–1 for GGE.     

Development and validation of an HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of clozapine and desmethylclozapine in plasma of schizophrenic patients

Summary A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with amperometric detection has been developed for the determination of levels of clozapine (CLZ) and its active metabolite N-desmethylclozapine (DMC) in human plasma. The analysis was performed on a 5 μm C8 reversed phase column (150×4.6 mm i.d.), with acetonitrile-phosphate buffer (pH 3.5), as the mobile phase. The detection voltage was +800 mV and the cell and column temperature were 50°C. Linear responses were obtained between 2 ng mL⁻¹ and 100 ng mL⁻¹. Absolute recovery for both clozapine and desmethylclozapine exceeded 88% and the detection limit was 1 ng mL⁻¹. Repeatability, intermediate precision and accuracy were satisfactory. The method, which is rapid, sensitive and selective, has been applied to therapeutic drug monitoring in schizophrenic patients following administration of Leponex^? tablets. In 21 patients in steady state at a mean daily clozapine dosage of 358 mg (ranging from 150 to 500 mg day⁻¹), clozapine levels averaged 379 ng mL⁻¹ (ranging from 102 to 818 ng mL⁻¹) and DMC levels averaged 233 ng mL⁻¹ (ranging from 70 to 540 ng mL⁻¹). The method requires only a very small amount of plasma (100 μL), and thus it is suitable for pharmacokinetic studies, as well as for therapeutic drug monitoring.     

Preparative scale reversed-phase HPLC method for simultaneous separation of carotenoids and carotenoid esters

Summary A method is described for the preparative HPLC of carotenoids and carotenoid esters using a self-packing axially-compressed column. The reversed-phase system used employs an RP-18 stationary phase and a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of petroleum spirit, acetonitrile, methanol and tetrahydrofuran. The method is demonstrated for paprika fruit, rose hips and marigold flowers.     

A specific sensitive HPLC method for determination of plasma dopamine

Summary We describe here a sensitive, selective and rapid method to quantitate plasma catecholamines, especially dopamine, using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. This method requires a 10-minute run time and has a threshold for detection of 2 picograms, (10pg/ml).A number of commonly employed mobile phases for catecholamine analysis have been tested and have failed to detect dopamine in biological samples. Neither acetonitrile (3–7%) or methanol, (5–8%) in the mobile phase has produced consistently interpretable data either due to inability to detect or interference from co-eluting substances. Optimal detection was achieved with a mobile phase containing sodium acetate (6.8g), citric acid (5.9g), EDTA (48mg), di-n-butylamine (270l), Na-1-octane sulfate (850mg), methanol (100 ml) (amounts refer to 1 liter aqueous solution) (pH 4.3). The mobile phase was passed through a Waters 5 resolve C₁₈ column using a Waters 590 pump and m460 electrochemical detector and 740 data module, Flow rate was 0.9ml/min. Using this method, normal values in human and swine left ventricular myocardium and human and swine plasma have been established for norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine.