Analytica Chimica Acta 463 (2002) 207–217 Determination of flurbiprofen in pharmaceutical formulations by UV spectrophotometry and liquid chromatography C. Sajeev, Pravin R. Jadhav, D. RaviShankar, R.N. Saha ∗ Pharmacy Group, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani 333 031, India Received 22 February 2002; received in revised form 15 May 2002; accepted 15 May 2002 Abstract In this study, a new and rapid UV spectrophotometric (UV) method and a reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic (LC) method were developed for quantitative estimation of flurbiprofen, a non-selective, non- steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), in pure form and in pharmaceutical dosage form. The solvent system, wavelength of detection, chromatographic conditions were optimized in order to maximize the sensitivity of both the proposed methods. The linear regression equations obtained by least square regression method were Abs = 7.5906 × 10 -2 concentration (g/ml) + (-)4.6210 × 10 -2 for the UV method, and peak area = 1.2652 × 10 2 concentration (ng/ml) + 1.4830 × 10 3 for the LC method. The detection limit as per the error propagation theory was found to be 0.34 g/ml for UV method and 15 ng/ml for LC method. The developed methods were successfully employed with high degree of precision and accuracy for the estimation of total drug content in two commercial ophthalmic drops of flurbiprofen. The results of analysis were treated statistically, as per USP 2000 and International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines for val- idation of analytical procedures, and by recovery studies. The results obtained from UV method were comparable with those obtained by using LC. It was concluded that both the developed methods are equally accurate, sensitive, precise, reproducible, robust and rugged and could be applied directly and easily to the pharmaceutical preparations of flurbiprofen. However, LC method is useful at very low level (ng/ml), whereas UV method is suitable at g/ml level. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Flurbiprofen; Liquid chromatography; Pharmaceutical formulation; UV spectrophotometry 1. Introduction Flurbiprofen [(±)-2-(2-fluoro-4-biphenylyl) propi- onic acid] is an important non-steroidal, anti-inflamm- atory drug (NSAID), effectively used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis [1]. Flurbiprofen demonstrates comparable efficacy to other NSAIDs, e.g. aspirin [2], indomethacin [3], ibuprofen [4], naproxen [5], and di- clofenac [6], in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-159-7645073/7645074x206; fax: +91-159-7644183. E-mail address: rnsaha@bits-pilani.ac.in (R.N. Saha). Flurbiprofen is indicated for the management of ver- nal keratoconjunctivitis [7], post-operative ocular in- flammation [8], herpetic stromal keratitis [9], excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy [10] and ocular gin- givitis [11]. Recent reports suggest potential topical and systemic use of flurbiprofen in radio-protection [12], inhibition of colon tumor [13], protection of post-irradiation myelosuppression [14], pain manage- ment after foot surgery [15] and peridontal surgery [16]. With its ever increasing use and the number of formulations entering into the market, there is al- ways a need for simple, sensitive, accurate, rapid, reproducible analytical method for the estimation of 0003-2670/02/$ – see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0003-2670(02)00426-9