RESUMEN
This work is concerned with development and validation of chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods for analysis of mebeverine HCl (MEH), diloxanide furoate (DF) and metronidazole (MET) in Dimetrol® tablets - spectrophotometric and RP-HPLC methods using UV detection. The developed spectrophotometric methods depend on determination of MEH and DF in the combined dosage form using the successive derivative ratio spectra method which depends on derivatization of the obtained ratio spectra in two steps using methanol as a solvent and measuring MEH at 226.4-232.2 nm (peak to peak) and DF at 260.6-264.8 nm (peak to peak). While MET concentrations were determined using first derivative (1D) at λ = 327 nm using the same solvent. The chromatographic method depends on HPLC separation on ODS column and elution with a mobile phase consisting water: methanol: triethylamine (25: 75: 0.5, by volume, orthophosphoric acid to pH =4). Pumping the mobile phase at 0.7 ml min-1 with UV at 230 nm. Factors affecting the developed methods were studied and optimized, moreover, they have been validated as per ICH guideline and the results demonstrated that the suggested methods are reproducible, reliable and can be applied for routine use with short time of analysis. Statistical analysis of the two developed methods with each other using F and student's-t tests showed no significant difference.