A greener RP-HPLC method for quaternary estimation of caffeine, paracetamol, levocetirizine, and phenylephrine acquiring AQbD with stability studies

Abstract

Abstract The main objective of this article was to develop method and validate quaternary estimation of caffeine (CFE), paracetamol (PCM), levocetirizine (LEV), and phenylephrine (PHE) and to conduct degradation experiments using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). This was the first innovative approach to this drug combination, combining analytical quality by design with green analytical chemistry. This method was developed using HPLC Agilent 1220 Infinity II, a binary solvent delivery pump, an automatic sampling device injector, and a photodiode array detector. Agilent Inertsil ODS 3 (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) was used for separation. The mobile phase is composed of ethanol and 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3). To adjust the pH, 1% of orthophosphoric acid was used. The flow rate was set to 0.8 ml·min−1, the injection volume was 10 μl, and the detecting wavelength was 220 nm. The analytes were eluted via gradient elution. The retention time for PCM was 3.5 min, CFE was 8.1 min, PHE was 15.9 min, and LEV was 20.5 min. Green evaluation tools used in this research include Green Analytical Procedure Index, analytical eco-scale, analytical greenness, analytical method greenness score, and carbon footprint analysis. The developed method was greener than the previously reported method, as per the results of the greenness evaluation tools.