Effect of titanium dioxide on photostability of solid-state mequitazine.

TiO(2) has been widely used in pharmaceutical products, and it also has been used as a photocatalyst. In this study, the influence of photocatalytic activity on the stability of solid-state mequitazine, an H(1)-blocker, was investigated. The photo-degradation of mequitazine with TiO(2) occurred under irradiation with both light sources. The degree of degradation of mequitazine with anatase was higher than that of rutile. The degradation was significantly enhanced with increasing relative humidity. The relationship between the apparent degradation rate constant and water vapor pressure could be clearly described by a simple power law. The major photo-degradation products of mequitazine, resulting from photocatalytic activity of TiO(2), were mequitazine-S-oxide and mequitazine-sulphone. A remarkable degradation of mequitadine occurred with addition of TiO(2), and its photocatalytic activity was controlled by water vapor pressure. The photo-degradation of mequitazine with TiO(2) is a different process from mequitazine without TiO(2), because mequitazine-S-oxide and mequitazine-sulphone are not formed with normal photo-degradation of mequitazine.

Stability studies on some benzocycloheptane antihistaminic agents.

The photostability of selected benzocycloheptane antihistaminic agents, namely, loratadine (I), pizotifen (II), ketotifen fumarate (III) and cyproheptatidine (IV), was investigated. Both I and II were photolabile while III and IV were photostable. To perform stability studies on the photolabile compounds (I and II), specific stability-indicating high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods were established. The accuracy, precision and reliability of the developed HPLC methods for the assay of I and II in their pharmaceutical dosage forms were reported. Assay results for both drugs were within R.S.D. values <2%. The stability-indicating power of the developed methods was validated through study of UV-degraded solutions of I and II contained in quartz cells. The photostability of both drugs was studied under UV-irradiation at 254 nm. The photodegradation kinetics of both drugs, studied in different solvents, are also reported. TLC fractionation of photodegraded solutions of both drugs, revealed two fluorescent photodegradates of drug I. The use of UV-absorbers (ascorbic acid and p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)) enhanced the photostability of both drugs possibly through a spectral-overlay effect.