Spectrophotometric and chromatographic determination of rabeprazole in presence of its degradation products

Three methods were presented for the determination of rabeprazole (RA) in presence of its degradation products. The first method was based on high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) separation of RA from its degradation products on a reversed phase, ODS column using a mobile phase of methanol–water (70:30, v/v) and UV detection at 284 nm. The second method was based on HPTLC separation followed by densitometric measurement of the spots at 284 nm. The separation was carried out on Merck HPTLC sheets of silica gel 60 F 254, using acetone–toluene–methanol (9:9:0.6 v/v) as mobile phase. The third method depends on first derivative of the ratio spectra ( 1DD) by measurement of the amplitudes at 310.2 nm. Moreover, the proposed HPLC method was utilized to investigate the kinetics of the oxidative and photo degradation processes. The pH-rate profile of degradation of RA in Britton–Robinson buffer solutions within the pH range 3–11 was studied. In addition, the activation energy of RA degradation was calculated in Britton–Robinson buffer solution pH 7.