Development and validation of a stability-indicating HPLC-UV method for the simultaneous determination of flurbiprofen and triclosan in dental nanogel formulations

Abstract

A combination of two drugs involving flurbiprofen (FLB) and triclosan (TCS) has been found to be potential treatment candidates against periodontal disease. In the present study, a new, simple, reliable and stability-indicating high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the simultaneous determination of FLB and TCS in the dental nanogel (NGs) formulation has been introduced. The chromatographic fractionation was accomplished with Agilent ZORBAX SB-C18 column (5 μm, 4.6 × 250 mm), using a mixture of acetonitrile and 8×10-4 mol l-1 citric acid, pH 3.26 (90:10, v/v) as a mobile phase, under isocratic elution mode with a flow rate of 0.3 ml min-1. The UV detection was set at 242 nm. The method was validated according to ICH guidelines. Results indicated excellent linearity with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 and 1 for FLB and TCS, respectively. The retention time (tR) was found to be 10.11 ± 0.03 and 12.55 ± 0.02 min for FLB and TCS, respectively. Extensive stress degradation studies of acidic/alkaline hydrolysis, oxidative, photolytic and heat degradation demonstrated good specificity and stability-indicating power of the method. The method was found to be simple, specific and could be employed for the simultaneous determination of FLB and TCS in dental formulations and for routine quality control evaluations.