Determination of Delafloxacin in Pharmaceutical Formulations Using a Green RP-HPTLC and NP-HPTLC Methods: A Comparative Study

In this work; delafloxacin (DLFX) was determined using a validated green RP-HPTLC and NP-HPTLC methods in commercial tablets and in-house developed solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs). RP-HPTLC determination of DLFX was performed using “RP-18 silica gel 60 F254S HPTLC plates”. However; NP-HPTLC estimation of DLFX was performed using “silica gel 60 F254S HPTLC plates”. For a green RP-HPTLC method; the ternary combination of ethanol:water:ammonia solution (5:4:2 v/v/v) was used as green mobile phase. However; for NP-HPTLC method; the ternary mixture of ethyl acetate: methanol: ammonia solution (5:4:2 v/v/v) was used as normal mobile phase. The analysis of DLFX was conducted in absorbance/reflectance mode of densitometry at λ(max) = 295 nm for both methods. RP-HPTLC method was found more accurate, precise, robust and sensitive for the analysis of DLFX compared with the NP-HPTLC method. The % assay of DLFX in commercial tablets and in-house developed SLNs was determined as 98.2 and 101.0%, respectively, using the green RP-HPTLC technique, however; the % assay of DLFX in commercial tablets and in-house developed SLNs was found to be 94.4 and 95.0%, respectively, using the NP-HPTLC method. Overall, the green RP-HPTLC method was found superior over the NP-HPTLC. Therefore, the proposed green RP-HPTLC method can be successfully applied for analysis of DLFX in commercial tablets, SLNs and other formulations containing DLFX.