QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE TLC FOR MONITORING CIPROFLOXACIN PHOTODEGRADATION IN AQUEOUS-SOLUTIONS

A thin layer chromatographic procedure has been developed for qualitat ive and quantitative monitoring of the degradation of ciprofloxacin in aqueous solutions irradiated by a high-pressure mercury lamp. Eluents comprising mixtures of acetonitrile and ammonium chloride buffer (pH 10.6-11.1) easily separated the degradation products from each other a nd from the parent compound. High performance thin layer chromatograph y combined with densitometry enabled accurate and reproducible quantif ication of ciprofloxacin in the presence of its degradation products. The rate of photodegradation of the drug increased with decreasing pH and with decreasing initial concentrations of the drug in the solution .