Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Analysis of Three First Line Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs

Active pharmaceutical ingredients such as isoniazid, pyrazinamide and rifampicin are among the most important first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. A simple, rapid and sensitive reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatographic assay method for the simultaneous determination of isoniazid, pyrazinamide and rifampicin has been developed. Separation of the interest compounds was achieved in a 10 min chromatographic run in gradient elution mode on a Zorbax SB-C18 stainless steel column (150 x 4 mm, 5 mu m) using a guard column containing the same stationary phase. The gradient elution was carried out with a mobile phase of 10% CH3CN aqueous solution for channel A and 50% CH3CN in pH = 6.8 phosphate buffer (20 mM), to which 1.5 mL triethylamine were added for channel B. Quantification of the analyzed substances was carried out spectrophotometrically at 269 nm. Detection limits of 0.48 mg/L for isoniazid, 0.52 mg/L for pyrazinamide and 0.48 mg/L for rifampicin were established for the developed assay method. The present work showed that the proposed analysis method was advantageous for simple and rapid analysis of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in pharmaceuticals and biological fluids.