Development and Validation of Stability-indicating Reverse Phase HPLC Assay for Tramadol in Bulk and Tablet Formulations

Abstract

This manuscript describes the development and validation of a simple, isocratic, and accurate reversed-phase HPLC method for the assay of tramadol in bulk powder form and tablet formulations. The chromato-graphic separation was achieved on an Qualisil BDS C18 (250 mm x 4.6mm, 5μm) column using acetonitrile: methanol: phosphate buffer pH 3.4 adjusted with orthophosphoric acid: (20:10:70, v/v) as a mobile phase, at a flow rate of 1 mL/min and detection at 271 nm. The linear range for tramadol were 2.0 to 10 μg/mL was obtained with correlation coefficients ≥ 0.999. The retention time was found to be 4.47 min for tramadol that was subjected to stress conditions, such as hydrolysis, oxidation, photolysis and thermal degradation, and the stressed samples were analyzed using the above methodology. The method was validated for the precision, accuracy, linearity and robustness. The developed stability-indicating method for tramadol was validated as per ICH guidelines.