Estimation of Alprazolam and Sertraline in Pure Powder and Tablet Formulations by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography

This article describes validated high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) and high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) methods for simultaneous estimation of alprazolam (ALZ) and sertraline (SER) in pure powder and tablet formulation. The HPLC separation was achieved on a Nucleosil C18 column (150mm long, 4.6mm i.d., and 5-mu m particle size) using acetonitrile and phosphate buffer (50+50 v/v), pH 5.5, as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0mL/min at ambient temperature. The HPTLC separation was achieved on an aluminum-backed layer of silica gel 60F254 using acetone/toluene/ammonia (6.0:3.0:1.0, v/v/v) as the mobile phase. Quantification with the HPLC method was achieved with ultraviolet (UV) detection at 230nm over the concentration range 3-18 mu g/mL for both drugs with mean recovery of 101.86 +/- 0.21 and 100.57 +/- 0.31% for ALZ and SER, respectively. Quantification in HPTLC was achieved with UV detection at 230nm over the concentration range of 400-1400ng/spot for both drugs with mean recoveries of 101.32 +/- 0.15 and 100.38 +/- 0.51% for ALZ and SER, respectively. These methods are rapid, simple, precise, sensitive, and are applicable for the simultaneous determination of ALZ and SER in pure powder and formulations.