SIMULTANEOUS ANALYSIS OF VITAMIN C AND ASPIRIN IN ASPIRIN C EFFERVESCENT TABLETS BY HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY–PHOTODIODE ARRAY DETECTOR

Abstract

High performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array (HPLC–PDA) method has been employed for the simultaneous determination of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) in aspirin C effervescent tablets. Chromatographic separation of ascorbic acid (AA) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) was performed by reversed–phase using a Betasil C₁₈ column with particle size of 3 µm, 150 mm × 4.6 mm I.D. Optimum separation was achieved in isocratic mode with a binary mobile phase (mixture of water and acetonitrile with 0.1% of formic acid, 75:25, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹. Recovery of the target compounds was obtained more than 98% with good quality parameters: linearity (r ² > 0.997), limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values between 1.4 × 10⁻³ and 5.1 × 10⁻⁴ mg mL⁻¹, and intra-day and interday precisions with relative standard deviation (RSD) lower than 2.1%. The content of the analyzed samples ascorbic and acetylsalicylic acid was found 238.23 and 393.49 mg, respectively, which are very close to the label claimed by the manufacturer in aspirin C effervescent tablets. Therefore, this method can be proposed for routine analysis of these compounds in aspirin C effervescent tablets.

Keywords:

• acetylsalicylic acid
• ascorbic acid
• aspirin C effervescent tablets
• column
• HPLC–PDA
• mobile phase

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project was supported by King Saud University, Deanship of Scientific Research, College of Science Research Center.

Notes

^a Limit of detection was estimated at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.

^b Limit of quantification was estimated at a signal-to-noise ratio of 10.

^c Relative standard deviation (n = 5).

Conc. = Concentration.

^a Standard deviation (n = 5).

^b Amount claimed by the manufacturer (Bayer) in aspirin C effervescent tablet.

^c Standard deviation (n = 5).