Determination of Reserpine and Chlorothiazide in Commercial Tablets by Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence and UV Absorbance Detectors in Series

A procedure is presented for determination of reserpine and chlorothiazide in commercial tablets by liquid chromatography (LC). Powdered sample, equivalent to the weight of one tablet, is dissolved in 10.0 mL dimethyl sulfoxide, the mixture is diluted to 100.0 mL with methanol, and the solution is filtered; 10 mL of the filtrate is then diluted to 100.0 mL with methanol. The standard solution is prepared in the same solvent mixture and contains the 2 ingredients in approximately the same quantities as in the diluted sample solution. For LC, a 7.5 cm long normal-phase column is used; mobile phase consists of methanol containing a small volume of an aqueous solution of 1-pentanesulfonic acid, sodium salt. Two detectors are arranged in series: a fluorescence detector set at 280 nm excitation and 360 nm emission quantitates reserpine and a UV absorbance detector set at 300 nm determines chlorothiazide. Several synthetic mixtures containing the 2 ingredients in amounts ranging from 80 to 120% of quantities declared in commercial tablets were analyzed by the proposed method. Two samples of commercial tablets were also analyzed; for each sample, 5 determinations were made on a ground composite of 20 tablets; 10 individual tablets were also analyzed. The composites were also analyzed by the current U.S. Pharmacopeia method for this product.