SIMULTANEOUS ANALYSIS OF FOUR ANALGESIC AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY COMPOUNDS ILLEGALLY MIXED IN HERBAL MEDICINES BY HPLC – PDA METHOD

The illegal mixing of modern pharmaceuticals into herbal medicines to increase their effects can cause many serious complications due to uncontrolled dosage and duration of drug action. This constitutes a legal violation and fraudulent practices in production and needs to be controlled. Therefore, this study aimed to develop quality control methods for the simultaneous analysis of active ingredients illegally mixed into marketed herbal medicines. Specifically, a high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of four compounds, paracetamol, diclofenac, dexamethasone, and methylprednisolone, in traditional herbal preparations. The method demonstrated high specificity, accuracy, precision, and linearity, with a linear range of 1.0–20.0 µg/mLfor paracetamol and 1.5–30.0 µg/mL for the other three compounds. The analytical method meets the regular requirements of a quantitative process according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines and the Association of Official Analytical Collaboration (AOAC). This method can be recommended for the routine quality control of herbal preparations available on the market.