Chemical degradation kinetics of fibrates: bezafibrate, ciprofibrate and fenofibrate

ABSTRACT Fibrates are drugs used for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia and for the prevention of atherosclerosis. Three drugs in the fibrate class, ciprofibrate, fenofibrate and bezafibrate, were chosen for this study because their raw materials are readily available and because scientific publications on these compounds is limited. To evaluate their intrinsic stability, the drugs were exposed to a test condition (temperature, oxidation, UV light exposure, hydrolysis at different pH values and metal ions in solution) and then were subjected to analysis by HPLC. The samples were run on a C18 column, with a flow rate of 1.0 mL min-1 in a mobile phase consisting of methanol: 0.01 % phosphoric acid v/v (80:20), with variable detection wavelengths in the UV spectra. The analysis methodology showed satisfactory performance parameters. The three drugs were very unstable, degrading in each of the conditions evaluated. The test conditions of acid and basic hydrolysis showed the most significant degradation. The results demonstrated that the drugs in this class are unstable. Based on these experimentally determined degradation kinetics, it is easy to understand and emphasize the importance of the lack of liquid dosage forms on the market for fibrates because of their instability.

Simultaneous determination of abamectin homologs H 2 B 1a and H 2 B 1b in gel formulation by high performance liquid chromatography

ABSTRACT Abamectin is a drug with antiparasitic properties used in several pharmaceutical formulations. The objective of this research was to develop and validate a high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for quantification of the two abamectin homologs (H2B1a and H2B1b) in gel formulation. This HPLC method was validated using a LichroCart(r) 100 RP-18 (125 x 4 mm, 5 µm) column. The mobile phase contained of acetonitrile and water (95:5 v/v) with 1% acetic acid. The flow rate was 1.0 mL min-1 and UV detection was performed at 245 nm. Mobile phase solutions were prepared containing a nominal concentration 185.2 µg mL-1 H2B1a and 9.6 µg mL-1 H2B1b. The method displayed good linearity in the concentration range of 148.1 - 222.3 µg mL-1 and 7.7 - 11.5 µg mL-1, for H2B1a and H2B1b, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of (r)> 0.99 for both compounds, calculated by the least mean squares method. Detection limits (DLs) were 2.8 µg mL-1 and 1.2 µg mL-1 and quantitation limits (QLs) were 8.6 µg mL-1 and 3.8 µg mL-1, for H2B1a and H2B1b, respectively. The method is simple, economical and efficient for the quantitative determination of abamectin H2B1a and H2B1b homologs in pharmaceutical preparations.