Determination of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Saridon Tablets Using an Economical and Sensitive Thin Layer Chromatography Method Combined with Densitometry

A new TLC–densitometric method has been developed for the identification and quantification of paracetamol (PA), propyphenazone (PP) and caffeine (C) in Saridon tablets using the NP-TLC technique combined with densitometry. This method allows for the simultaneous determination of PA, PP, and C in the same sample. Among all the tested chromatographic conditions, the mixture consisting of chloroform + toluene + ethyl acetate + ethanol + acetic acid (18:18:7.5:5.0:0.3, v/v/v/v/v) and a silica gel 60F254 plate proved to be the most effective for the separation of the three tested active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and substances related to paracetamol. The full validation of the proposed NP-TLC method proved that it is specific, precise, accurate, robust and sensitive. The percentage content in relation to the content declared by the manufacturer was for propyphenazone 99.8%, paracetamol 101.6% and caffeine 100.8%, which was in accordance with pharmacopoeial requirements. The results presented indicate the possibility of using the developed method in the routine control of pharmaceutical preparations containing these APIs. The proposed method is economical and more sensitive compared to the previously proposed planar methods for the simultaneous determination of APIs. What is more, the presented method may be an excellent economical alternative when the HPLC method is unavailable for such a determination.