Determination of glycine and threonine in topical dermatological preparations

In the present study, a single HPLC method was developed for the determination of glycine and threonine in cicatrizants. Two different preparations of a cream and an ointment, and the corresponding bandages, onto which the formulations were applied, were studied. The method involved matrix solubilisation with dichloromethane, liquid–liquid isolation of gly and thr with aqueous 1N NaOH, and derivatization with phenylisothiocyanate. Reversed-phase HPLC separation was carried out by gradient elution with 20 mM aqueous NaClO 4 and acetonitrile (from 90% to 30% aqueous NaClO 4 in 10 min) on a LiChrospher ® 100 RP-18 cartridge (125 mm × 4.6 mm). Analytes were determined with a UV detector set at 245 nm. Quantitation was accomplished by internal standardization with methionine. Linearity was studied in the range 60–120% of the concentrations expected for gly and thr ( viz. for gly from 200 to 400 μg ml −1, and for thr from 100 to 200 μg ml −1). In reference aqueous samples, linear correlation ( r) was better than 0.99 for gly and thr, while in spiked matrix samples r ranged from 0.97 to 0.98. Recoveries were in the 95–105% interval, and precision (CV%, N = 6) was better than 5% for both analytes either in cream, ointment or bandages. The method was successfully used for the quality control of topical dermatological preparations.