Development of HPLC Method for Simultaneous Determination of Ibuprofen and Chlorpheniramine Maleate

One of the most prevalent over-the-counter cold and cough medications is the chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM)–ibuprofen (IBF) combination. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method was effectively optimized and developed for the simultaneous detection of chlorpheniramine maleate and ibuprofen in a pharmaceutical formulation. The mobile phase for the RP-HPLC method was an isocratic combination of acetonitrile and 0.01 M acetate buffer at pH 3.8 (55:45; v/v) on an Eclipse Plus C18 reversed phase column. An ultraviolet (UV) detector with a wavelength of 225 nm was used to detect the analytes at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. CPM and IBF were satisfactorily eluted, with mean retention times of 2.09 and 6.27 min, respectively. The approach was shown to be linear (R2 > 0.9998 for CPM and 0.9992 for IBF), precise (% RSD 3.02% for CPM and 3.48% for IBF), accurate (% recoveries 97.7–98.9% for CPM and 101–104.5% for IBF), specific, easy to use, sensitive, quick, and robust. Limits of detection (LODs) were found to be 10 and 27 μg/mL for CPM and IBF, respectively. Without interference from excipients, the validated method could be utilized in regular quality control analysis of various dosage combinations of hard gelatin capsules containing CPM and IBF.