A Stability Indicating UPLC Method for the Determination of Tramadol Hydrochloride: Application to Pharmaceutical Analysis

Abstract

The use of Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC), with a rapid 5-minute reversed phase isocratic separation on a 1.7 μm reversed-phase packing material to provide rapid ‘‘high throughput’’ support for tramadol hydrochloride (TMH) is demonstrated. A simple, precise and accurate stability-indicating isocratic UPLC method was developed for the determination of TMH in bulk drug and in its tablets. The method was developed using Waters Aquity BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) with mobile phase consisting of a mixture of potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer of pH 2.8 and an equal volume of acetonitrile (60 : 40 v/v). The eluted compound was detected at 226 nm with a UV detector. The standard curve of mean peak area versus concentration showed an excellent linearity over a concentration range 0.5–300 μg mL−1 TMH with regression coefficient (r) value of 0.9999. The limit of detection (S/N =3) was 0.08 μg mL−1 and the limit of quantification (S/N =10) was 0.2 μg mL−1. Forced degradation of the bulk sample was conducted an accordance with the ICH guidelines. Acidic, basic, hydrolytic, oxidative, thermal and photolytic degradation were used to assess the stability indicating power of the method. TMH was found to degrade significantly in acidic, basic and oxidative stress conditions and stable in thermal, hydrolytic and photolytic conditions.