Greener High-Performance Liquid Chromatography—Supported with Computational Studies to Determine Empagliflozin: Box–Behnken Design and Taguchi Model for Optimization

Abstract

A reliable and efficient RSM with BBD was established to speedily analyze empagliflozin in wastewater and pharmaceutical formulation samples using HPLC. The Taguchi method was initially applied to determine the critical parameters among all selected variables and was then optimized with BBD. This development has numerous advantages, such as minimum organic solvent usage, short analysis times, and small sample volume with lesser waste generation. The chromatographic separation was accomplished with BDS Hypersil C18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) as stationary phase using buffer: methanol (92.4:7.6, v/v) with a flow rate of 0.89 mL/min and detected at 240 nm. The calibration plot was linear between 2.5 and 20.0 μg/mL with LOD and LOQ values of 0.83 μg/mL and 2.52 μg/mL, respectively. The developed HPLC method was a superior technique linked with green chemistry based on the penalty points or analytical eco-scale score, which enhanced the method's reliability. The isolates were analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy, and the observed spectrum is comparable to the simulated spectrum obtained at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. In addition, molecular structure, UV–visible spectral, electronic properties and molecular electrostatic potential of EMP were examined, and the findings will be useful for further research on EMP.