Simultaneous determination of caffeine, 8-chlorotheophylline, and chlorphenoxamine hydrochloride in ternary mixtures by ratio-spectra zero-crossing first-derivative spectrophotometric and chemometric methods

Abstract

A ratio-spectra zero-crossing first-derivative spectrophotometric method and 2 chemometric methods have been used for the simultaneous determination of ternary mixtures of caffeine (A), 8-chlorotheophylline (B), and chlorphenoxamine hydrochloride (C) in bulk powder and dosage forms. In the ratio-spectra zero-crossing first-derivative spectrophotometric technique (1DD), calibration curves were linear in the range of 4-20 μg/mL for A, B, and C (r = 0.9992, 0.9994, and 0.9976, respectively). The measurements were carried out at 212, 209.2, and 231.4 nm for A, B, and C, respectively. The detection limits for A, B, and C were calculated to be 0.24, 0.34, and 0.13 μg/mL, and the percentage recoveries were 99.1±0.89,100.1±0.95, and 100.1±1.0, respectively. Two chemometric methods, namely, the partial least-squares (PLS) model and the principal component regression (PCR) model, were also used for the simultaneous determination of the 3 drugs in the ternary mixture. A training set consisting of 15 mixtures containing different ratios of A, B, and C was used. The concentration used for the construction of the PLS and PCR models varied between 4 and 25 μg/mL for each drug. These models were used after their validation for the prediction of the concentrations of A, B, and C in mixtures. The detection limits for A, B, and C were calculated to be 0.13, 0.15, and 0.14 μg/mL, respectively, and the percent recoveries were found to be 99.8±0.96, 99.9±0.94, and 99.9±1.18, respectively, for both methods. The 3 proposed procedures are rapid, simple, sensitive, and accurate. No preliminary separation steps or resolution equations are required; thus, they can be applied to the simultaneous determination of the 3 drugs in commercial tablets and suppositories or in quality-control laboratories.