Development of RP-HPLC method for the analysis of levocetirizine. 2HCl and ambroxol. HCl in combination and its application

Abstract

A simple, sensitive isocratic and reproducible reversed phase High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was developed for the estimation of ambroxol hydrochloride (ABH) and levocetirizine dihydrochloride (LCD) in combination using PDA detector. The system consisted of RP-C18 column and the detection was performed at 230nm. The mobile phase was a mixture of acetonitrile : phosphate buffer solution (60:40) (pH 7.0) pumped at room temperature and a flow rate of 1 ml/min. ABH and LCD were eluted at 2.75 and 5.01 sec respectively. The mean absolute recoveries of ABH and LCD were about 98 % and 99 % respectively and the limit of detection of LCD and ABH in the mixture of given proportion is observed to be 0.1 µg/ml and 1.5 µg/ml and the limit of quantitation is 0.3 µg/ml and 4.5 µg/ml respectively. The calibration was linear over a concentration range of 4.5 µg/ml to 15.0 µg/ml with r2 > 0.997 for ABH and 0.3 µg/ml to 1.0 µg/ml with r2 > 0.999 for LCD. The intra (n = 5) and inter (n = 5) day assay variations in the linear range are < 4 % for ABH and < 6 % for LCD. Three pharmaceutical products containing this combination are analyzed to test the applicability of the new method. The percentage of ABH and LCD in three marketed capsule dosage form studied range from 99 to 102 % and 100 to 103 % and respectively to the claimed value.