Determination of vitamin E acid succinate in biodegradable microspheres by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple, rapid, and reproducible reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is applied to the routine assay of vitamin E acid succinate in biodegradable microspheres. Vitamin E acid-succinate-containing poly-(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres are prepared by the solvent evaporation method. The starting drug-polymer ratio is 1:10 (w/w) and the total amount of drug and polymer processed is always 440 mg. The content of vitamin E acid succinate in the microspheres is evaluated by HPLC. Chromatography is carried out isocratically at 25 degrees C +/- 0.5 degrees C on an Extrasil ODS-2 column with a mobile phase composed of methanol-water (97:3, v/v) (pH 5.6) at a flow rate of 2 mL/min and UV detection at 284 nm. Parameters such as linearity, limits of quantitation (LOQ) and detection (LOD), precision, accuracy, recovery, specificity, and ruggedness are studied as reported in the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The stability of vitamin E acid succinate is also studied with satisfactory results after 48 h at 25 degrees C. The method is selective and linear for drug concentrations in the range 15-210 micro g/mL. The LOQ and LOD are 15 and 3 micro g/mL, respectively. The results for accuracy studies are good. Values for coefficient of variation for intra- and interassay are 2.08% and 2.32%, respectively. The mean percentage of vitamin E acid succinate in the recovery studies is 99.52% +/- 0.81%. The mean loading efficiency for microspheres is 96.53% +/- 1.31%.