Simultaneous estimation of lidocaine and prilocaine in topical cream by green gas chromatography

ABSTRACT

Lidocaine (LDC) and prilocaine (PLC) are estimated in a topical local anesthetic cream using a direct, eco-friendly,stability-indicating gas chromatographic technique with flame ionization detector. The mixture of LDC and PLCwas separated using Zebron DB drug column. The column temperature and flow rate were 230°C and 14 ml/minute,respectively. The retention time was found to be 5.1 minutes for PLC and 5.4 minutes for LDC. Linearity was observedin the concentration range of 20–100 μg/ml and 10–50 μg/ml for LDC and PLC, respectively. The method was validatedand values of linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, precision, and accuracy were found to be in goodaccordance with the International Conference on Harmonization guideline. A direct, stability-indicating method wasdeveloped for the determination of LDC and PLC in topical dosage forms in the presence of its degradation products.The proposed method can be useful in the quality control of LDC and PLC in their topical formulation.