High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic Determination of Diclofenac Sodium and Thiocolchicoside in Fixed Dose Combination
High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic Determination of Diclofenac Sodium and Thiocolchicoside in Fixed Dose Combination
High Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic Determination of Diclofenac Sodium and Thiocolchicoside in Fixed Dose Combination
ABSTRACT
A simple, specific, accurate, and precise high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method for
analysis of Diclofenac Sodium and Thiocolchicoside in fixed dose combination has been developed and
validated. The method use aluminium plates precoated with silica gel 60 F254 as stationary phase and
Toluene: Ethyl acetate: Methanol (5:3:2, v/v/v) as mobile phase. Densitometric evaluation of the
separated bands was performed at 285 nm. The two drugs were satisfactorily resolved with Rf values 0.53
± 0.005 and 0.17 ± 0.002 for Diclofenac Sodium and Thiocolchicoside, respectively. Results were found
to be linear over the concentration range 50–300 ng/ band for both the drugs. Intra-day variation, as RSD
(%), was 0.468 for Diclofenac Sodium and 0.357 for Thiocolchicoside. Interday variation, as RSD (%)
was 0.949 for Diclofenac Sodium and 0.739 for Thiocolchicoside. This method has been successfully
validated and applied for the analysis of drugs in pharmaceutical formulation. The % assay (Mean ± S.D.)
was found to be 100.521 ± 0.833 for Diclofenac Sodium and 101.132 ± 0.612 for Thiocolchicoside.
INTRODUCTION
Diclofenac sodium (DIC), [Sodium (o- {(2, 6-dichlorophenyl) amino} phenyl) acetate] is a
synthetic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), has been proved to be safe and efficacious drug
in the treatment of a variety of inflammatory and rheumatoid disorders1. Thiocolchicoside (THIO),
chemically, is (s)-N-[3-(B-D-glucopyranoxyloxy)-5,6,7,9-tetrahydro-1,2-dimethoxy-10-(methylthio)-9-
oxobenzo [a] heptalen-7yl] acetamide. Thiocolchicoside is a muscle relaxant which has been claimed to
possess GABA mimetic and glycinergic actions. It is used in the symptomatic treatment of painful
muscle spasm2.
Literature survey reveals spectrophotometric3 and HPTLC4 5 determination of DIC in combination
with other drugs. HPLC6 and bioanalytical chromatographic methods7 for quantification of DIC are also
reported. For simultaneous determination of THIO with other drugs spectrophotometric8, HPTLC9 and
HPLC methods10,11 are reported.
No reports were found for determination of DIC and THIO by HPTLC method in fixed dose
combination. Aim of present work was to develop simple, economical, rapid, accurate and precise
HPTLC method for determination of these drugs in fixed dose combination. The proposed method is
optimized and validated as per the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines12.
Recovery Studies
To check the accuracy of the method, recovery studies were carried out by addition of standard
drug solution to pre-analyzed sample solution at three different levels 50, 100 and 150 %.
Precision
To study intra-day variation, six mixed standard solutions containing DIC (100 ng/band) and
THIO (100 ng/band) were prepared and analyzed on the same day to record any intra-day variation in the
results. To study inter-day variation, analysis of three mixed standard solutions of the same concentration
was performed on three different days.
Specificity and Selectivity
The specificity of the method was ascertained by analyzing standard drug and sample. The spots
for both drugs were confirmed by comparing the Rf and spectra of the sample spots with that of standard
drugs.
LOD and LOQ
LOD and LOQ were calculated as 3.3 σ /S and 10 σ /S, respectively, where σ is the standard
deviation of the response (y-intercept) and S is the slope of the calibration plot.
Robustness Studies
The robustness of the method was studied, during method development, by small but deliberate
variations in chamber saturation period (± 10 %), development distance (± 10 %), time from application
to development (0, 10, 20, 30 min), time from development to scanning (0, 30, 60, 90 min). One factor at
a time was changed to study the effect on the peak area of the drugs (Concentration level 100 ng/band for
DIC and 100 ng/band for THIO).
CONCLUSION
The validated HPTLC method employed here proved to be simple, fast, accurate, precise and
robust, thus can be used for routine analysis of DIC and THIO in combined tablet dosage form.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors express their gratitude to Cipla Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. (Mumbai, MH) and Aventis
Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Goa, India) for the gift samples of pure drug. Special thanks to Dr. (Mrs.) A. R.
Madgulkar, Principal, AISSMS College of Pharmacy for providing facilities and his constant support.
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Figure 1: In situ overlain spectrum of DIC and THIO measured from 200 to 400 nm.
Figure 2: Representative densitogram obtained fro mixed standard solution of DIC (50 ng/band, Rf
= 0.53 ± 0.005) and THIO (50 ng/band, Rf = 0.17 ± 0.002)