Simultaneous determination of hydrocortisone and benzyl alcohol in pharmaceutical formulations by reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography.

An accurate, reproducible, and specific reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) procedure that simultaneously determines hydrocortisone and benzyl alcohol in a variety of pharmaceutical formulations is presented. Cream, gel, ointment, and solution formulations containing varying hydrocortisone and benzyl alcohol concentrations can be analyzed with only minor modifications in sample preparation. To provide optimum accuracy and reproducibility, phenethyl alcohol is used as an internal standard. The specificity of the procedure allows for the quantitative determination of hydrocortisone and benzyl alcohol in the presence of their degradation products and without interference from the phenethyl alcohol. The determinations can be performed with an analysis time of 10-13 min/sample.