High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous estimation of the key intermediates of duloxetine

A simple reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method employing C-18 column has been developed for simultaneous analysis of three intermediates in the synthesis of S-duloxetine, the antidepressant drug, viz., 2-acetyl thiophene (AT), N,N-dimethyl-3-keto-(2-thienyl)-propanamine (DKTP) and (S)-N,N-dimethyl-3-hydroxy-(2-thienyl)-propanamine (DHTP). Good separations were achieved by employing an isocratic system using acetonitrile and 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) containing 0.02% diethylamine. The detection was carried out at 241 nm. The method was validated for linearity, range, accuracy and precision. The developed method was applied for monitoring the progress of chemical synthesis of DKTP from AT followed by the biocatalytic reduction of DKTP to DHTP as the disappearance of the substrate and formation of the product can be monitored simultaneously by the present method.