Development and validation of TLC–densitometric method for simultaneous determination of two binary antihypertensive mixtures containing felodipine in fixed dose combinations

A new densitometric thin‐layer chromatographic method has been developed for simultaneous determination of two binary mixtures containing felodipine in combination with either metoprolol (mixture I) or ramipril (mixture II). The two mixtures were quantitatively separated on 60 F254 silica gel plates using toluene–ethyl acetate–methanol–ammonia as mobile phase with UV detection at 233 and 229 nm for mixtures I and II, respectively. The studied drugs were satisfactorily resolved with retention factor (R_f) values of 0.34 ± 0.03 and 0.65 ± 0.03 for metoprolol and felodipine, respectively, in mixture I and 0.35 ± 0.03 and 0.74 ± 0.03 for ramipril and felodipine, respectively, in mixture II. Linearity ranges were 2000–7000 and 200–700 ng/band for metoprolol and felodipine, respectively, in mixture I and 1500–4000 ng/band for both ramipril and felodipine in mixture II. Correlation coefficient (r) values were 0.9968 for both metoprolol and felodipine in mixture I and 0.9993 for ramipril and 0.9989 for felodipine in mixture II. The method has been validated according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines and has been successfully applied for determination of the studied drugs in their dosage forms without interference from commonly encountered excipients. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.