Abstract
Development and validation of thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) for the separation and identification of simple mixtures of antidepressant drugs (fluvoxamine maleate, paroxetine, and sertraline) were achieved by using 2-propanol-DCM (70:30, v/v) at 30 +/- 1 degrees C. R-F values were 0.44, 0.22, and 0.68 for fluvoxamine maleate, paroxetine, and sertraline, respectively, on normal silica plates. The metal ions used were Fe(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) of 0.1% concentrations, separately and respectively. R F values of these drugs on impregnated plates were in the range of 0.18-0.64. The separations of these drugs on plain and impregnated plates were compared, and it was found that the best separation was on Ni(II)-impregnated plate with compact spots. The limits of detection of these drugs were also calculated and found to be 0.1-0.2 ng mL(-1) for both plain and impregnated plates. The values of the resolution data (R) for fluvoxamine maleate, paroxetine, and sertraline were greater than 1.0 and, hence, the complete separation. Solid phase extraction conditions of these drugs were phosphate buffer (50.0 mM, pH 9.0) with 0.10 mL min(-1) as flow rate. The best eluting solvent was methanol containing 0.1% acetic for all antidepressants; with 0.1 mL min(-1) flow rate. The percentage recoveries of fluvoxamine maleate, paroxetine, and sertraline drugs were 41%, 35%, and 33%, respectively. The values of standard deviation, correlation coefficient, and confidence level for TLC (R-F), SPE (percentage recovery), and UV-visible spectrometric methods for fluvoxamine maleate, paroxetine, and sertraline were in a range of +/- 0.14-0.33%, 0.9992-0.9998%, and 95.00-98.75%, respectively.