RAPID AND SENSITIVE SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF METFORMIN HYDROCHLORIDE AND PIOGLITAZONE HYDROCHLORIDE IN TABLET FORMULATION BY HPTLC METHOD

A rapid, simple, and sensitive HPTLC method for simultaneous estimation of two antidiabetic drugs, metformin hydrochloride and pioglitazone hydrochloride, in pharmaceutical tablet was developed and validated. Separation was achieved on aluminum sheets of silica gel 60F254 using butanol:1, 4-dioxane:glacial acetic acid (5:3:2, v/v/v) as the mobile phase. This system gave a good resolution for metformin hydrochloride (R f value of 0.36 +/- 0.01) and pioglitazone hydrochloride (R f value of 0.73 +/- 0.01). Detection and quantification was carried out at 226nm. Calibration plot was constructed in the range of 2000 to 20000ng/band for metformin hydrochloride and 60 to 600ng/band for pioglitazone hydrochloride. The linear regression data for the calibration plot showed a good relationship with r=0.9960 and 0.9968 for metformin hydrochloride and pioglitazone hydrochloride, respectively. Assays for metformin hydrochloride and pioglitazone hydrochloride were 99.6% (RSD 0.618%) and 99.7% (RSD 0.511%), respectively, for the brand analyzed. The method was validated for precision and recovery. The limits of detection and quantification were 629.89 and 1908.76ng/band for metformin hydrochloride and 8.51 and 25.77ng/band for pioglitazone hydrochloride, respectively.