Stability indicating method for the determination of paracetamol in its pharmaceutical preparations by TLC densitometric method

Simple, sensitive and accurate thin layer procedure was described for a quantitative determination of paracetamol in its bulk powder and in its pharmaceutical dosage forms in the presence of its degradation product. The method consists of dissolving the drug in methanol and then spotting the solution on a thin layer of silica gel G254. Paracetamol was separated on silica gel using the mixture of the mobile phase, ethyl acetate: benzene: acetic acid in a ratio (1:1:0.05 v/v/v).Absorbance measurements (detection of reflectance) of the separated drug were carried out at 250 nm. Calibration curves were established in the concentration range of 5–20 mcg/spot for paracetamol. Quantitation is achieved by comparing the area under the peaks obtained from scanning the thin layer chromatographic plates in a spectrodensitometer. The method has been successfully applied to pharmaceutical preparations (capsules) and the results obtained were statistically compared with those obtained by applying the reference method.