Development of alternative methods for the determination of raloxifene hydrochloride in tablet dosage form

Three methods are proposed for the quantitative determination of raloxifene hydrochloride in pharmaceutical dosage form: ultraviolet method (UV) high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and micellar capillary electrophoresis (MEKC). These methods were developed and validated and showed good linearity, precision and accuracy. Also they demonstrated to be specific and robust. The HPLC and MEKC methods were tested in regards to be stability indicating methods and they showed to have this attribute. The UV method used methanol as solvent and optimal wavelength at 284 nm, obeying Lambert-Beer law in these conditions. The chromatographic conditions for the HPLC method included: NST column C18 (250 x 4.6 mm x 5 µm), mobile phase water:acetonitrile:triethylamine (67:33:0,3 v/v), pH 3.5, flow rate 1.0 mL min-1, injection volume 20.0 µl, UV detection 287 nm and analysis temperature 30 °C. The MEKC method was performed on a fused-silica capillary (40 cm effective length x 50 µm i.d.) using as background electrolyte 35.0 mmol L-1 borate buffer and 50.0 mmol L-1 anionic detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at pH 8.8. The capillary temperature was 32°C, applied voltage 25 kV, UV detection at 280 nm and injection was perfomed at 45 mBar for 4 s, hydrodimanic mode. In this MEKC method, potassium diclofenac (200.0 µg mL-1) was used as internal standard. All these methods were statistically analyzed and demonstrated to be equivalent for quantitative analysis of RLX in tablets and were successfully applied for the determination of the drug.