HPLC Methods for Quantitation of Exemestane-Luteolin and Exemestane-Resveratrol Mixtures in Nanoformulations

Abstract

Two HPLC-DAD assays for the simultaneous quantitation of exemestane (EXE) and resveratrol (RES) - Mix 1 - and EXE and luteolin (LUT) - Mix 2 - in novel breast cancer therapy nanoformulations were developed. Calibration curves 15-30 μg/mL and samples were injected through an Inertsil ODS-3 (250 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column. The gradient elution for Mix 1 was methanol: 0.05% (v/v) acetic acid in water (60: 40 to 80: 20, linear over 2 min), and for Mix 2, it was methanol: water (60: 40 for 4 min, then ramped linearly to 90: 10, over 12 min) pumped at 1.5 mL/min for 4 min, then 1 mL/min till the end of run. EXE, RES, LUT and flutamide (internal standard (IS)) were measured at 246, 307, 350 and 300 nm, respectively. For Mix 1, RES, EXE and IS eluted at 3.5, 6.8 and 7.4 min, respectively, while for Mix 2, LUT, EXE and IS eluted at 7.5, 11.4 and 12.7 min, respectively. The mean r2 for the standard curves was ≥0.99, and percentage coefficient of variation and % error of the mean were <2. Both assays successfully quantitated Mix 1 and Mix 2 in their nanoformulations. The two developed assays were sensitive and selective for the analysis of EXE-LUT and EXE-RES mixtures in nanoformulations according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines.