Abstract
A rapid method based on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography is described for the separation and quantitation of azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine and their potential contaminants and degradants present in dosage forms. Procedures based on simple dissolution or extraction in 0.02 M NaOH give quantitative precision of 1% relative standard deviation at the macro-level and 2% relative standard deviation for the micro-assay of analytes. The method is stability-indicating and has been used for preliminary studies of the degradation of azathioprine in 0.9% sodium chloride injection, subjected to thermal or ultraviolet irradiation treatment. The content uniformity of dosage forms of azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine has been measured. Only azathioprine injection as the freeze-dried sodium salt was found to contain detectable amounts of contaminants 6-mercaptopurine, 1-methyl-4-nitro-5-chloroimidazole and hypoxanthine.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 691-704 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Journal of Chromatography B: Biomedical Sciences and Applications |
| Volume | Vol. 186 |
| Publication status | Published - 1979 |