Development and Validation of Chromatographic Methods for Simultaneous Determination of Paracetamol, Orphenadrine Citrate and Caffeine in Presence of P-aminophenol; Quantification of P-aminophenol Nephrotoxic Impurity Using LC-MS/MS

Three chromatographic methods were developed, optimized and validated for Paracetamol (PAR), Orphenadrine citrate (Or.cit) and Caffeine (CAF) determination in their mixture and in presence of PAR toxic impurity; P-aminophenol (PAP) in tablets. The first method is based on a thin layer chromatography combined with densitometry. Separation was achieved using silica gel 60 F-254 TLC plates and dichloromethane:methanol:acetone:glacial acetic acid (9:1:0.5:0.3, v/v/v) as a developing system at 230 nm. The second method is based on high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The proposed compounds are separated on a reversed phase C18 analytical column using phosphate buffer (pH 9; 0.05 M) and methanol (80:20, v/v) at 1.2 mL/min. Linear regressions are obtained in the range of 1-500 mu g/mL, 25-1000 mu g/mL and 1-400 mu g/mL for PAR, Or.cit and CAF, respectively. Quantification of the toxic PAP is carried out using LC-MS-MS by electrospray ionization in the positive mode using triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. The limit of quantification for PAP is 1 ng/mL. All methods are validated according to the ICH guidelines and successfully applied to determine PAR, Or.cit, CAF and PAP in pure powder and in combined tablets dosage form without interference from excipients.