Abstract
Objective: Atomoxetine (ATX) is a medication that is extensively used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, adolescents, and adults. The goal of this work was to create a speedy, easy, and sensitive ultra high performance liquid chromatographic method (UHPLC) for the measurement of atomoxetine in various medicinal plants. (Salvia officinalis L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Melissa officinalis L., Ginkgo biloba L.).
Material and Method: Prior to chromatographic separation, liquid-liquid extraction was applied, which is currently the preferred extraction technique due to its simple, fast and efficient procedure for sample preparation. The chromatographic separation was achieved by reversed phase C18 (5 μm × 4.6 mm × 150 mm) analytical column and a mobile phase consisting of monobasic potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate (pH=6.8) and acetonitrile (50:50 v/v) at flow rate of 0.8 ml/min and diode array detector (DAD) detecting at 215±2 nm.
Result and Discussion: The envisioned method's linear behavior was tested in the 0.5-20 μg/ml range (r2=0.09990). In compliance with International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) criteria, the method received validation by means of accuracy, precision, repeatability, specificity, robustness, and detection and quantification boundaries. LOD and LOQ values were determined as 0.16 and 0.5 μg/ml. RSD values for hourly and daily measurements are found to be below 2.5% for both assays. The proposed method can be used effectively for quantification of atomoxetine in medicinal and aromatic plants. The proposed analytical procedure represents an efficient method for the quantification and routinee analysis of atomoxetine in medicinal and aromatic plants.