A Derivatization Reagent for Vigabatrin and Gabapentin in HPLC with Fluorescence Detection

A validated, selective, and sensitive chromatographic method for determination of two antiepileptic drugs, vigabatrin (VGA) and gabapentin (GBA) has been developed. Determination was obtained by pre-column reaction of the samples with fluorescamine and separating the corresponding derivatives with a reverse phase HPLC on a 5 micro ASMT BANsil CN column and fluorescence detection (lex 390 nm, lem 472 nm). Acetonitrile-TBAH (20 : 80) containing phosphoric acid was used as mobile phase. A linear quantitative response curve was generated over a concentration range of 0.2–1.0mg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 and 0.995 for vigabatrin and gabapentin, respectively. The percentage recovery of vigabatrin from spiked plasma was 102.7 with RSD% of 4.51. Validation of accuracy and precision were satisfactory for both drugs within-and between-run assay. The method is specific for the intact drugs, and can be adopted in the presence of possible interferences.