Stability assessment of tamsulosin and tadalafil co-formulated in capsules by two validated chromatographic methods.

The advent of a new pharmaceutical formulation evokes the need for examining the chemical stability of their constituents and establishing proper stability-indicating methods. Herein, the stability of the newly co-formulated Tamsulosin and Tadalafil were examined under different stress conditions. The acidic degradation of Tamsulosin yielded its sulfonated derivative, while Tadalafil was susceptible to both acidic and basic degradation. Two stability-indicating chromatographic methods, namely; high-performance thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, have been developed. Significant high-performance thin-layer chromatography-fractionation could be achieved by utilizing a stationary phase of silica gel 60 F254 and a mobile phase composed of ethyl acetate/toluene/methanol/ammonia (4:2:4:0.6, by volumes) with densitometric recording at 280 nm over a concentration range of 0.5-25 µg/band for both drugs. The HPLC-separation could be reached on XBridge® C18 column isocraticaly by using a mobile phase having acetonitrile/phosphate buffer, pH 6.0 (45:55, v/v) pumped at a flow rate of 1.7 mL/min and applying diode array ultraviolet-detection at 210 nm over a linearity range of 3-70 µg/mL for each drug. Specificity of the two methods was additionally assured via peak purity assessment. Moreover, the methods were distinctly exploited for evaluating the drugs' stability in accelerated stability-studied samples of Tamplus® capsules.

A novel smartphone HPTLC assaying platform versus traditional densitometric method for simultaneous quantification of alfuzosin and solifenacin in their dosage forms as well as monitoring content uniformity and drug residues on the manufacturing equipment.

The large popularity and rapid technology of smartphones have opened new avenues for their integration into different analytical methodologies and drug quality monitoring as a portable, easily accessible, and user-friendly detector. Herein, a novel and portable smartphone-based high-performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) approach is proposed for the simultaneous analysis of two urological drugs, alfuzosin and solifenacin, which treat benign prostatic hyperplasia accompanied by overactive bladder syndrome. First, chromatographic separation was accomplished using an ecofriendly mobile phase, then the developed plates were visualized using Dragendorff's reagent and photographed via a smartphone's rear-facing camera fixed on a fabricated two-illumination-source chamber. The intensities of the drug spots were quantified using open-source image analysis software ImageJ over the concentration ranges of 2.0 to 30.0 µg per band for both drugs with acceptable results in ICH validation parameters. To improve the method's accuracy and reproducibility, various construction and shooting key parameters were investigated and optimized. Moreover, the study was extended to compare the obtained results with those of a benchtop densitometric method using a Camag TLC Scanner 3 at 215.0 nm; the densitometric method provided an additional assessment tool for peak purity and was capable of assaying lower drug concentrations over a linearity range of 0.2-8.0 µg per band for alfuzosin and 0.1-6.0 µg per band for solifenacin. The fast, simple, reliable, green merits of the proposed HPTLC/smartphone method suggest that it is an excellent platform for assaying marketed combined capsules and assuring their content uniformity. Moreover, the high sensitivity of the densitometric method was used, for the first time, to determine the residual content of the cited drugs on manufacturing equipment surfaces for cleaning validation. Finally, the environmental impact of the developed methods was evaluated based on green analytical chemistry principles.

Stability-Indicating Determination of Tedizolid Phosphate in the Presence of its Active Form and Possible Degradants.

Tedizolid phosphate is an antibiotic prodrug that is metabolized into tedizolid which is used against various resistant bacterial strains. In this study, tedizolid phosphate was subjected to stress degradation conditions, namely, hydrolysis (neutral, acidic and alkaline), thermal, oxidative and photolytic ones. The prodrug was stable toward thermal and photolytic stress conditions, while it showed significant degradation upon applying oxidative and hydrolytic conditions. Two suggested chromatographic methods are described for separation and determination of tedizolid phosphate from the resulted degradation products. The first method is HPLC using Waters Xselect HSS C18 (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) analytical column and mobile phase composed of phosphate buffer (50 mM, pH 6.5):acetonitrile (70:30, %v/v) pumped at flow rate of 1.0 mL/min with UV-detection at 300 nm. The second method is a TLC coupled with densitometric quantitation, precoated silica TLC-plates as a stationary phase and a mobile phase of methanol:butanol:ethyl acetate:ammonia (33%, w/v) (60:20:20:10,%v/v) were used. The chromatographed plates were scanned at 300 nm. The linearity was confirmed over concentration range of 1-100 µg/mL and 1-12 µg/band for HPLC and TLC-densitometric methods, respectively. Both methods were found to be suitable for determination of tedizolid phosphate in pure form and in its pharmaceutical formulations.

A sensing platform of molecular imprinted polymer-based polyaniline/carbon paste electrodes for simultaneous potentiometric determination of alfuzosin and solifenacin in binary co-formulation and spiked plasma.

Solid contact ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) have witnessed versatile applications in pharmaceutical and biological analysis however they suffer from some limitations. Besides formation of water layer, the doped ion exchanger in sensing membrane fails to distinguish between two ionic species having relatively similar lipophilicity and carrying same charges. Those shortcomings practically hampered the simultaneous determination of alfuzosin and solifenacin in their combined pharmaceutical combination. Hence, this paper was directed to develop two carbon paste electrodes allowing their simultaneous determination based on molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs). Efforts were firstly directed to stabilize the potential signals through synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles with 26 nm particle size as confirmed by means of UV-spectrophotometry, Zeta-sizer and transmission electron microscope. This was followed by its doping at electrode/ion selective membrane interface leading to diminished potential drift, better Nernstian slopes and lower limit of detections. Secondly, MIPs for each drug were prepared by precipitation polymerization technique and fully characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscope, differential scanning calorimetry, surface area analysis and rebinding studies. The prepared MIPs were then incorporated in membrane cocktail and doped over PANI layer. The graved cavities inside MIPs act as synthetic host-tailored receptors that could recognize and bind specifically to each drug. The obtained Nernstian slopes were 57.16 mV/decade for alfuzosin MIP-based sensor and 58.17 mV/decade for solifenacin MIP-based one with respective LOD values of 7.9 × 10-7 M and 8.9 × 10-8 M. Moreover, no interference was ostensibly detected from dosage form excipients, plasma constituents or degradation products/official impurities allowing quantification of alfuzosin and solifenacin in their combined capsule, spiked human plasma and in presence of their degradation products.

Fingerprinting and iso-absorptive resolution techniques for the spectrally overlapping Dutasteride and Silodosin mixture: Content uniformity testing along with greenness profile assessment.

The realm of spectrophotometric analysis has witnessed a remarkable progress in inventing faster and simpler resolution techniques for spectrally overlapping drug mixtures. Eco-friendly and progressive spectrophotometric methods were firstly developed in this work, for the simultaneous determination of Dutasteride (DUT) and Silodosin (SLD) in their newly-marketed dosage form. The proposed methods focused on the unique spectral features of this mixture including spectral extension of SLD over DUT spectrum as well as existence of iso-absorptive points. By such way, the methods were classified into two categories; the first one was "fingerprint resolution techniques" including constant extraction coupled with spectrum subtraction and ratio subtraction coupled with constant multiplication methods. The former represented a new modification to the classical constant extraction method where one divisor and lower steps were manipulated instead. The second category was "iso-absorptive resolution techniques", such as absorptivity centering, absorbance subtraction and amplitude modulation methods. Different solvents were investigated where ethanol was found to be the optimum one regarding drugs solubility, signal sensitivity and environmental, health & safety (EHS) score. Validity of the suggested methods was assessed as per ICH-guidelines and found to be linear over concentration ranges of 5.0-90.0 µg/mL for DUT and 5.0-120.0 µg/mL for SLD. The methods were successfully applied for quantifying the cited drugs in their combined dosage form and evaluating their content uniformity. Moreover, the insignificant statistical difference between the proposed methods and official HPLC ones encourages the utilization of such spectrophotometric methods as greener and faster candidates, especially in modest quality control laboratories. Methods' greenness profile was finally guaranteed through several assessment tools, namely; national environmental methods index (NEMI), analytical eco-scale, green analytical procedure index (GAPI) and analytical greenness (AGREE) metric.

Eco-Friendly Chromatographic Methods for Determination of Acemetacin and Indomethacin; Greenness Profile Assessment.

BACKGROUND: The green chemistry approach was developed for the purpose of saving the environment by using green solvents. Applying green analytical chemistry principles to traditional methods is considered a challenge. Acemetacin is a commonly used analgesic prodrug that bioactivates to indomethacin. OBJECTIVE: Developing two simple, eco-friendly chromatographic methods for simultaneous determination of acemetacin and indomethacin. METHOD: The first method is HPLC-DAD. Separation was performed on a Waters XBridge® Shield RP18 (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) analytical column with ethanol-ammonium acetate buffer (50 mM, pH 3.5 ± 0.1; 60:40, v/v) as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min at 25 ± 0.5°C and UV detection at 254 nm. The other method is TLC coupled with densitometric quantification using pre-coated silica TLC plates and butanol-ethyl acetate (70:30, v/v) elution system. The plates were scanned at 254 nm. RESULTS: Both methods were validated according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Linearity was confirmed for both over a concentration range of 1-100 µg/mL for the HPLC method and 0.2-7 µg/band for TLC-densitometric method. The methods' greenness was evaluated by the National Environmental Methods Index, Eco-Scale, Green Analytical Procedure Index metrics and Analytical GREEnness Metric Approach. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed methods were found to be suitable for determination of studied drugs in their marketed formulations and is suggested for routine analysis in quality control laboratories. HIGHLIGHTS: The developed HPLC method shortened the elution time of the analyzed drugs saving more time and money and the TLC method lowered the drugs' detection limit. HPLC and TLC methods were validated for the assay of acemetacin and indomethacin. The methods' greenness was evaluated and compared to published methods. The developed HPLC method shortened the elution time of the analyzed drugs, saving time and money and the TLC method lowered the drugs' detection limit.

Selective determination of ertapenem in the presence of its degradation product.

Stability-indicative determination of ertapenem (ERTM) in the presence of its beta-lactam open-ring degradation product, which is also the metabolite, is investigated. The degradation product has been isolated, via acid-degradation, characterized and elucidated. Selective quantification of ERTM, singly in bulk form, pharmaceutical formulations and/or in the presence of its major degradant is demonstrated. The indication of stability has been undertaken under conditions likely to be expected at normal storage conditions. Among the spectrophotometric methods adopted for quantification are first derivative ((1)D), first derivative of ratio spectra ((1)DD) and bivariate analysis.

Double-Track Electrochemical Green Approach for Simultaneous Dissolution Profiling of Naproxen Sodium and Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride.

Acquisition of the dissolution profiles of more than single active ingredient in a multi-analyte pharmaceutical formulation is a mandatory manufacturing practice that is dominated by utilization of the off-line separation-based chromatographic methods. This contribution adopts a new "Double-Track" approach with the ultimate goal of advancing the in-line potentiometric sensors to their most effective applicability for simultaneous acquisition of the dissolution profiles of two active ingredients in a binary pharmaceutical formulation. The unique abilities of these sensors for real-time measurements is the key driver for adoption of "green analytical chemistry" (GAC) principles aiming to expand the application of eco-friendly analytical methods With the aim of performing a side-by-side comparison, this work investigates the degree of adherence of ISEs to the 12 principles of GAC in multicomponent dissolution profiling with respect to the HPLC. For the proof of concept, a binary mixture of naproxen sodium (NAPR) and diphenhydramine hydrochloride (DIPH) marketed as Aleve pm® tablets was selected as a model for which dissolution profiles were attained by two techniques. The first "Double-Track" in-line strategy depends on dipping two highly integrated membrane sensors for continuous monitoring of the dissolution of each active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) by tracing the e.m.f change over the time scale. For the determination of NAPR, sensor I was developed using tridodecyl methyl ammonium chloride as an anion exchanger, while sensor II was developed for the determination of DIPH using potassium tetrakis (4-chlorophenyl) borate as a cation exchanger. The second off-line strategy utilizes a separation-based HPLC method via off-line tracking the increase of peak area by UV detection at 220nm over time using a mobile phase of acetonitrile: water (90:10) pH 3. The advantages of the newly introduced "Double-Track" approach regarding GAC principles are highlighted, and the merits of these benign real-time analyzers (ISEs) that can deliver equivalent analytical results as HPLC while significantly reducing solvent consumption/waste generation are described.

Selective determination of ertapenem and imipenem in the presence of their degradants.

Stability-indicative determination of ertapenem (E(RTM)) and imipenem (I(MPM)) in the presence of their corresponding open-ring degradation products, the metabolites, is investigated. The degradation products have been isolated via acid-degradation, characterized, and confirmed. Selective quantification of E(RTM) or I(MPM) singly in bulk form, pharmaceutical formulations, and/or in the presence of their corresponding degradants is demonstrated. The indication of stability has been undertaken under conditions likely to be expected at normal storage conditions. Among the chromatographic techniques adopted for quantification are coupled thin layer chromatography-densitometry and high-performance liquid chromatography.

Photodegradation and photostability-indication of mequitazine.

The photochemical behavior is investigated for mequitazine (MQ) illustrating possible mechanisms and photodegradation products formed. Accelerated photolysis is done for MQ under justified stress conditions by subjecting aqueous drug solutions to radiation for specified period of time. Synthesis of the main photodegradants, the sulfoxide, is achieved. Selective quantification of MQ, singly in bulk form, pharmaceutical formulations and/or in the presence of its photodegradants is demonstrated. The indication of stability has been undertaken under conditions likely to be expected at normal storage conditions using a simple colorimetric method based on oxidation of the intact phenothiazine drug by potassium iodate in acid medium to form a red colored product adequate for quantitative estimation of the studied drug.

Stability-indicating determination of meropenem in presence of its degradation product.

Stability-indicative determination of meropenem (MERM) in the presence of its open-ring degradation product, the metabolite, is investigated. The degradation product has been isolated, via acid-degradation, characterized and confirmed. Selective quantification of MERM, singly in bulk form, pharmaceutical formulations and/or in the presence of its major degradate is demonstrated. The indication of stability has been undertaken under conditions likely to be expected at normal storage. Among the analytical techniques adopted for quantification are spectrophotometry [first-derivative ((1)D), first-derivative of ratio spectra ((1)DD) and bivariate analysis], as well as chromatography [coupled TLC-densitometry and HPLC].