Stability-indicating high performance thin layer chromatography determination of Paroxetine hydrochloride in bulk drug and pharmaceutical formulations.

A simple selective precise and stability-indicating high performance thin layer chromatographic method of analysis of Paroxetine hydrochloride both as a bulk drug and in formulations was developed and validated. The method employed TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography) aluminum precoated with silica gel 60F-254 as the stationary phase. The solvent system consisted of butanol:acetic acid:water (8:2:0.5, v/v/v). This system was found to give compact spots for Paroxetine HCl (Rf, retardation factor, value-0.48+/-0.02). Paroxteine HCl was subjected to acid and alkali hydrolysis, oxidation and photodegradation, where the degraded product was well separated from the pure drug. Densitometric analysis of Paroxetine hydrochloride was carried out in the absorbance mode at 295 nm. The linear regression analysis data for the calibration spots showed good relationship with (regression) r2 = 0.9903 in the amount range of 300-1500 ng (nanogram) per spot. The mean value of co-relation co-efficient, slope and intercept were 0.9903+/-0.001, 5.38+/-0.058 and 182.5+/-2.16 respectively. The method was validated for precision, recovery and robustness. The limits of detection and quantitation were 50 and 150 ng, respectively. The drug does not undergo degradation with oxidation, but gets affected in acidic and alkaline conditions. The acid and alkali degradation showed extra peaks at 0.4 and 0.08 Rf, respectively. This indicates that the drug is susceptible to acidic and alkaline medium. As the method could effectively separate the drug from its degradation products, it can be employed as a stability-indicating one.