Simultaneous determination of a ternary mixture of doxylamine succinate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, and folic acid by the ratio spectra-zero-crossing, double divisor-ratio spectra derivative, and column high-performance liquid chromatographic methods.

Three simple, rapid, and accurate methods, i.e., the derivative ratio spectra-zero-crossing method (method I), double divisor-ratio spectra derivative method (method II), and column reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method (method III) were developed for the simultaneous determination of doxylamine succinate (DOX), pyridoxine hydrochloride (PYR), and folic acid (FA) in their ternary mixtures and in tablets. In methods I and II, the calibration graphs were linear in the range of 2.5-80, 1.0-40, and 1.0-30 microg/mL for DOX, PYR, and FA, respectively. In the HPLC method, the separation of these compounds was performed using mobile phase consisting of 0.05 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.3)-methanol-acetonitrile (50 + 20 + 30, v/v/v), and UV detection was performed at 263 nm. Linearity was observed between the concentrations of the analytes and peak areas [correlation coefficient (r) > or =0.9998] in the concentration range of 1.0-200, 4.0-600, and 4.0-600 microg/mL for DOX, PYR, and FA, respectively. The standard deviation of retention time in method III was 0.011, 0.015, and 0.016 for DOX, PYR, and FA, respectively. The precision studies for all of the methods gave relative standard deviation values of <2%. The results obtained from the methods were statistically compared by means of Student's t-test and the variance ratio F-test. It was concluded that all of the developed methods were equally accurate, sensitive, and precise. These methods could be applied to determine DOX, PYR, and FA in their combined dosage forms.