Analytical Chemistry Insights

Aqueous alkaline degradation was performed for oseltamivir phosphate (OP) and valacyclovir hydrochloride (VA). Isocratic stability indicating the use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was presented for each drug in the presence of its degradation product. The separations were performed using the Nucleosil ODS column and a mobile phase consisting of phosphate buffer (pH = 7), acetonitrile, and methanol 50:25:25 (v/v/v) for OP. For VA separation, a Nucleosil CN column using phosphate buffer (pH = 7) and methanol 85:15 (v/v) was used as a mobile phase. Ultraviolet detection at 210 nm and 254 nm was used for OP and VA, respectively. The method showed high sensitivity concerning linearity, accuracy, and precision over the range 1–250 µg mL-1 for both drugs. The proposed method was used to determine the drug in its pharmaceutical formulation and to investigate the degradation kinetics of each drug’s alkaline-stressed samples. The reactions were found to follow a first-order reaction. The activation energy could also be estimated. International Conference on Harmonisation guidelines were adopted for method validation.