Simultaneous HPTLC determination of nabumetone and paracetamol in combined tablet dosage form

Abstract

A new simple high performance thin layer chromatographic method (HPTLC) for simultaneous determination of nabumetone and paracetamol in combined tablet dosage form was developed and validated. The separations were carried out on Merck aluminum plates precoated with silica gel 60 F254, using toluene:2-propanol:acetic acid (8:2:0.1, v/v/v) as mobile phase. Quantitative determination of bands was done by densitometric scanning at 236 nm. The calculated retention factors for nabumetone and paracetamol were 0.78 ± 0.03 and 0.32 ± 0.03, respectively. The method was validated with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness. The calibration curves showed to be linear over a range of 50-250 ng per band for both drugs. The method has been successfully applied for the analysis of drugs in pharmaceutical formulation. The percentages of assay (mean ± S.D.) were 99.89 ± 1.15 for nabumetone and 101.10 ± 0.71 for paracetamol, both of commercially available tablets. © 2011 Sociedade Brasileira de Química.