RP-LC METHOD DEVELOPED FOR THE DETERMINATION OF ASCORBIC ACID IN VITAMIN C SYRUP PREPARATION

Ascorbic acid is one of the essential and most vital medicines needed to maintain healthy living. Due to its non-availability through endogenous biosynthesis in humans, it is arguably one of the most consumed Over-The-Counter drugs. Thus, a simple, precise, low-cost and accurate reversed-phase liquid chromatographic (RP-LC) method was developed and optimized to analyse for the percentage content of ascorbic acid in different brands of Vitamin C syrups. The chromatographic separation carried out on an ODS (C18) Ultra sphere column, 5µm (25cm x 2mm), was achieved with HPLC water and methanol as the mobile phase, pumped at a flow rate of 1ml/min and using an ultraviolet detector for detection. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 10-100µg/ml and the method was found to be specific as no interference peaks of impurities and excipients were observed. The method developed was used to assess the quality of fifty-five samples of different types of Vitamin C syrup. Among the samples assessed for their percentage content of ascorbic acid, 18.2% fell below B.P official standard, 7.3% fell within range and 74.6% of the total samples analyzed were above the specified range. We have found this method to be simple, rapid and effective for analysis of ascorbic acid in Vitamin C syrups