Simultaneous determination of preservatives (methyl paraben and propyl paraben) in sucralfate suspension using high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

A reversed phase HPLC method that allows the separation and simultaneous determination of the preservatives methyl paraben (M.P.) and propyl paraben (P.P.) is described. The separations were effected by using an initial mobile phase of water: acetonitrile (50:50) on Inertsil C18 to elute P.P. and M.P. The detector wavelength was set at 205 nm. Under these conditions, separation of the two components was achieved in less than 10 min. Analytical characteristics of the separation such as precision, specificity, linear range and reproducibility were evaluated. The developed method was applied for the determination of preservative M.P. and P.P. at concentration of 0.01 mg/mL and 0.1 mg/mL respectively. The method was successfully used for determining both compounds in sucralfate suspension.