A validated densitometric method for analysis of atorvastatin calcium and metoprolol tartarate as bulk drugs and in combined capsule dosage forms.

A simple, accurate and precise high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method has been developed for the estimation of Atorvastatin Calcium and Metoprolol Tartarate simultaneously from a capsule dosage form. The method employed Silica gel 60F (254s)precoated plates as stationary phase and a mixture of Chloroform: Methanol: Glacial acetic acid (dil.) :: (9:1.5:0.2 ml %v/v) as mobile phase. Densitometric scanning was performed at 220 nm using Camag TLC scanner 3. The method was linear in the drug concentrations' range of 500 to 2500 ng/spot for Atorvastatin Calcium, also for Metoprolol Tartarate with correlation coefficient of 0.984 for Atorvastatin Calcium and 0.995 for Metoprolol Tartarate respectively. The retention factor for Atorvastatin Calcium was 0.45 ± 0.04 and for Metoprolol Tartarate was 0.25 ± 0.02. The method was validated as per ICH (International Conference on Harmonisation) Guidelines, proving its utility in estimation of Atorvastatin Calcium and Metoprolol Tartarate in combined dosage form.