Development and Optimization of Chromatographic Conditions for the Determination of Selected B Vitamins in Pharmaceutical Products

Vitamins are a unit of organic chemical substances that are essential for the adequate working of the human body. Water-soluble B vitamins are involved in the regulation of many metabolic and regulatory processes. Due to the inability to synthesize endogenously, they must be supplied to the body with edibles or in the form of supplementation as drugs or dietary supplements. Maintaining the correct level of vitamins is extremely important in the treatment of various diseases. In the presented work, the qualitative and quantitative procedure of the assay of vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6 and B12 in pharmaceutical products by chromatographic technique coupled with densitometric detection was developed, optimized and validated. During the optimization process, TLC Silica gel 60 F254 plates were chosen as a suitable stationary, and the mixture consisted of chloroform: ethanol: water: glacial acetic acid (2:8:2:0.5 v/v/v/v) as a mobile phase. Densitometric detection was conducted at a maximum absorbance λ = 254 nm for vitamins B1, B2, B6 and B12 and λ = 550 nm for vitamin B5 (after dyeing with ninhydrin). In the next step, the developed procedure was validated in accordance with the ICH guidelines. The recorded correlation coefficients obtained in all tested concentrations of B vitamins, ranging from 0.9947 to 0.9996, confirmed good linearity. The method is characterized by good precision, RSD data ranging from 0.62 to 1.52% for direct precision and from 0.84 to 1.4% for intermediate precision. Accuracy was proven by a recovery test at three concentration levels, with values close to 100% with RSD less than 1%. The calculated LOD and LOQ data for all tested vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6 and B12 were belove 1 μg/spot. The developed method was then used to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the content of B vitamins in medicinal products and dietary supplements with satisfactory results.