Acta Pharm

Acta Pharm. 63 (2013) 159-173

Original research paper

Chemometrically assissted optimization and validation of RP-HPLC method for the analysis of itraconazole and its impurities

IRENA KASAGIĆ VUJANOVIĆ, ANĐELIJA MALENOVIĆ, MARKO JOVANOVIĆ, TIJANA RAKIĆ, BILJANA JANČIĆ STOJANOVIĆ and DARKO IVANOVIĆ

andja@pharmacy.bg.ac.rs

¹ University of Banja Luka, Medical Faculty, Department of Drug Analysis, Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska

² University of Belgrade, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Drug Analysis, Belgrade, Serbia

Accepted January 11, 2013

This paper presents the chemometrically assisted optimization and validation of the RP-HPLC method intended for the quantitative analysis of itraconazole and its impurities in pharmaceutical dosage forms. To reach the desired chromatographic resolution with a limited number of experiments in a minimum amount of time, Box-Behnken design was used to simultaneously optimize some important chromatographic parameters, such as the acetonitrile content in the mobile phase, pH of the aqueous phase and the column temperature. Separation between itraconazole and impurity F was identified as critical and selected as a response during the optimization. The set optimal mobile phase composition was set as acetonitrile/water pH 2.5 adjusted with o-phosphoric acid (50:50, V/V). Separations were performed on the Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C18 4.6 × 150 [BZ1] mm, 5 mm particle size column with the flow rate 1 mL min^–1, column temperature set at 30 °C and UV detection at 256 nm. The established method was then subjected to method validation and the required validation parameters were tested. For the robustness evaluation, fractional factorial 2^4–1 design was utilized and factors that might significantly affect the system performance were defined. As other validation parameters were also found to be suitable, the possibility to apply the proposed method for the determination of itraconazole, its impurities B and F in any laboratory under different circumstances has been proven.

Keywords: itraconazole, itraconazole impurities, high performance liquid chromatography, Box-Behnken design, fractional factorial design