High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of benzalkonium and naphazoline or tetrahydrozoline in nasal and ophthalmic solutions.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the determination of benzalkonium chloride homologues and naphazoline nitrate or tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride in ophthalmic and nasal solutions. The technique involves a one-step dilution (1:5) for sample preparation and direct injection onto a 5 mm RP C-8 column. The mobile phase is acetonitrile-diluted acetic acid (80:20, v/v) with 6 mM tetramethylammonium bromide. Detection is carried out at 260 nm with a diode array. The method is rapid, specific, reproducible and is especially useful for quality control procedures.