DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF UV SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD FOR ESTIMATION OF ERYTHROMYCIN IN BULK DRUG AND PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION Anindya Bagchi*, Prosenjit Mukherjee, Harsha Bhardwaj, Jyoti gupta, Alok Semwal** Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Institute of pharmacy, Chakdaha,West Bengal **Himachal institute of Pharmacy, Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh *Corrosponding author: Anindya Bagchi Assistant Prof. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Himachal Institute of Pharmacy, Paonta Sahib (H.P) Email id: tajuanindya@gmail.com Mobile No: +91-9318670978 Abstract: An Uv spectrophotometric method for the quantitative determination of Erythromycin, a macrolide antibiotics in tablets was developed in present work. The parameters linearity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection, limit of quantisation, range were studied according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. UV spectroscopic determination was carried out at an absorption maximum of 285 nm using methanol as solvent. Results of the analyses were validated statistically and by recovery studies. The proposed method is simple, rapid, precise and accurate and can be used for the reliable quantisation of Erythromycin in pharmaceutical formulation. In the UV spectroscopic method linearity over the concentration range of Erythromycin was found to be 1-9 ug/ml with a correlation coefficient 0.9873. Keywords: Erythromycin, UV spectrophotometric method, linearity, Macrolide Antibiotics, ICH. INTRODUCTION: Erythromycin, produced by Saccharopolyspora erythreas (formerly known as Streptomyces erythraeus) (1), is a macrolide antibiotic consisting of a 14 member ring, a ketone group, two glycosidic bonds and a dimethyl amino group (2,3,4). Structure of Erythromycin It is bacteriostatic at low but bacteriocidal at high concentration. The drug targets at the ribosome and inhibits the protein synthesis of Gram positive bacteria such as Mycoplasma and Chlamydia. (5,6). Erythromycin is used for treatment of several infection diseases and in patients allergic to the penicillins. Erythromycin easily degrades in acidic conditions giving inactive compounds, 8,9-anhydro-6,9-hemiketal and erythromycin-6,9,12-spiroketal (7). To increase its acid stability and bioavailability, erythromycin is available in several forms including estolate, ethyl succinate and stearate. Several methods have been proposed for the analysis of erythromycin. Dehouck et al.(8) reported the HPLC analysis of erythromycin and benzoyl peroxide in acne gel on a Xterra RP18 column using acetonitrile, 0.2 M di- potassium hydrogen phosphate and water (35:5:60, v/v) as a mobile phase and a detection wavelength at 215 nm. Leal et al.(9) analyzed erythromycin and other six macrolide antibiotics by HPLC using a C18 column, a mobile phase consisting of phosphate buffer (pH 2.5) and acetonitrile and monitored the wavelengths in a range of 204-287 nm. HPLC-MS (mass spectrometry) was also employed for the analysis of seven macrolide antibiotic residues in fish with a detection limit of 0.01 μg/mL (10) Hilton and co-workers (11) used HPLC-electrospray MS in combination with solid phase extraction (SPE) for the detection of several antibiotics contaminated in water including erythromycin. But because of a simple Uv analysis it can be possible to avoid such expensive experimental designing which has been tried to established here. MATERIALS AND METHODS: CHEMICALS AND REAGENTS: Methanol and dibasic phosphate buffer pH 8.0 (1:1) was used throughout UV spectrophotometric method development and validation. Erythromycin bulk powder was kindly gifted by Nextwave Pharma, India. The commercially available tablets of three different of Erythromycin were procured from local market labeled content 50 mg Erythromycin. Methanol (AR Grade, S. D. Fine Chemicals Ltd., Mumbai, India) and Whatman filter paper no. 1 (Whatman International Ltd., England) were used in the study. INSTRUMENTATION: A shimadzu model 1800 (Japan) double beam UV/Visible spectrophotometer with spectral width of 2 nm, wavelength accuracy of 0.5 nm and a pair of 10 mm matched quartz cell was used to measure absorbance of all the solutions. Spectra were automatically obtained by UVProbe system software. A Sartorius CP224S analytical balance (Gottingen, Germany), an ultrasonic bath (Frontline FS 4, Mumbai, India). PREPARATION OF STANDARD STOCK SOLUTION: Erythromycin was accurately weighed (equivalent to 100 mg Erythromycin) in 100 ml volumetric flask and diluent (100 ml) was added, shaken till dissolved and volume was made up to the mark with diluent and mixed well (1 mg/ml).From that solution 1ml was taken and dissolved upto 100 ml and that will give 10ug/ml concentration of solution. PREPARATION OF WORKING STANDARD SOLUTION: Erythromycin working standard solution was prepared by diluting standard stock solution to produce the concentration range of (1-9) ug/ml. VALIDATION OF THE PROPOSED METHODS: The methods were validated with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision (method precision, intermediate precision), limit of detection and limit of quantification according to the ICH guidelines (12). LINEARITY AND RANGE: The linearity was determined by analyzing 9 independent levels of calibration curve in the range of 1-9μg/ml. Absorbance of each solution against methanol was recorded at 285 nm The calibration curve of absorbance vs. concentration was plotted and correlation co-efficient and regression line equation for erythromycin were determined. PRECISION: METHOD PRECISION (% REPEATABILITY): The precision of the instrument was checked by repeated scanning and measurement of the absorbance of 8 μg/ml erythromycin standard solution (n = 6) without changing the parameters for the method. The repeatability was expressed in terms of relative standard deviation (% RSD). INTERMEDIATE PRECISION (REPRODUCIBILITY): The intraday and interday precision of the proposed methods were performed by analyzing the corresponding responses 3 times on the same day and on 3 different days over a period of 1 week for 8different concentrations of standard solutions of erythromycin (2, 5 ,8 μg/ml). The results were reported in terms of relative standard deviation (% RSD). SYSTEM PRECISION: The precision of the system was checked by repeated scanning and measurement of the absorbance of 2 μg/ml, 5ug//ml, 8ug/ml erythromycin standard solution (n = 6) without changing the parameters for the method. The repeatability was expressed in terms of relative standard deviation (% RSD). ACCURACY (% RECOVERY): The accuracy of the methods was performed by calculating recovery of erythromycin by the standard addition method. Known amounts of standard solutions of erythromycin were added at 80%, 100% and 120% levels to pre quantified erythromycin sample solutions of 8 μg/ml. At each level of the amount 3 determinations were performed. The amount of erythromycin was estimated by applying obtained values to the respective regression equations and % recoveries were computed. LIMIT OF DETECTION (LOD) AND LIMIT OF QUANTIFICATION (LOQ): The LOD and LOQ were estimated from the set of 3 calibration curves used to determine method linearity. LOD = 3.3 × σ/S LOQ = 10 × σ/S Where, σ = the standard deviation of the response and S = slope of the calibration curve. DETERMINATION OF ERYTHROMYCIN IN PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION (TABLETS): Twenty tablets of each brand were accurately weighed and average weight was determined. The tablets were powdered in glass mortar. A weight of the powder equivalent to 100 mg of erythromycin was transferred to a 100 ml volumetric flask containing 50 ml methanol: buffer (1:1) and the mixture was sonicated for 30 min then diluted to 100 ml with methanol: Buffer(1:1) (1000 ug/ml). The solution was filtered and 1 ml of filtered solution was diluted hundredfold to furnish a concentration of 10μg/ml. From that solution the working sample dilute solution has been prepared. RESULT AND DISCUSSION: In experiment simple UV spectrophotometric instrument was used. From this the simple UV spectrum of Erythromycin in methanol: buffer (1:1) was obtained which exhibits absorption maxima (λ max) at 285 nm (Figure 1). The calibration curve was linear in concentration range of 1-9 μg/ml. The proposed methods were found to be simple, sensitive, rapid, accurate, precise and economic for the routine analysis of erythromycin in pharmaceutical formulations. The linearity ranges was found to be 1-9 μg/ml for this method. Accuracy was determined by calculating the recovery, and the mean was determined (Table 1). Precision was calculated as repeatability (relative standard deviation) and intra and inter day variation (% RSD) for erythromycin. LOD value for erythromycin was found to be 0.96 ug/ml and LOQ value is 2.92 μg/ml respectively indicates sensitivity of the proposed method. The method was successfully used to determine the amounts of erythromycin present in tablets. The results obtained are in good agreement with the corresponding labelled amount (Table 2). By observing the validation parameters, the methods were found to be sensitive, accurate and precise. Hence the methods can be employed for the routine analysis of erythromycin in tablet formulations. Regression analysis data and summary of validation Parameters values for the proposed method is given on (Table 3). Fig: 1- Uv Spectrum of Erythromycin Stearate TABLE 1: RECOVERY DATA OF PROPOSED METHOD: Method employed LEVEL AMOUNT TAKEN(ug/ml) AMOUNT ADDED %RECOVERY±S.D I 8 80 99.39+0.14 II 8 100 98.11+1.02 III 8 120 98.97+0.34 TABLE 2: RESULTS OF ANALYSIS OF TABLET FORMULATIONS: Tablet Level Claim Parameters Amount Found Brand A 50 mg Mean 98.28 S.D 0.52 Mean 98.49 S.D 0.72 Mean 98.48 S.D 0.93 Brand B Brand C 50 mg 50 mg TABLE 3: REGRESSION ANALYSIS DATA AND SUMMARY OF VALIDATION PARAMETERS FOR THE PROPOSED METHODS: Parameters Value λmax 285 nm Beer’s-Lambert’s range (μg/ml ) (1-9) ug/ml Regression equation Y=0.0109x+0.3469 y =mx + c Slope (m) 0. 0.0109 Intercept (c) 0.3469 Correlation coefficient (r2) 0.9873 Recovery + S. D. 99.59 + 0.13 (n = 3) LOD (μg/ml ) 0.96 LOQ (μg/ml ) 2.92 Intermediate Precision(%RSD) Interday (n = 3) 0.7661 - 1.7811 Intraday (n = 3) 0.1967 - 1.5121 CONCLUSION: The proposed spectrophotometric method was found to be, simple, sensitive, accurate and precise for determination of erythromycin in tablet dosage form. Unlike other researchers, which reported the use of advanced techniques (e.g. HPLC, HPTLC and CE), we described a simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of erythromycin. The proposed method will not replace the methods recommended in USP or BP or other published methods. But, it will serve as a rapid, convenient and inexpensive method. Hence it can be conveniently adopted for routine quality analysis of the drug in tablets. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The authors are gratefully acknowledging Next wave Pharma, India for providing the gift samples of deflazacort. 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