Reverse phase liquid chromatographic determination of bisacodyl in dosage forms

A method is described for the determination of bisacodyl in enteric-coated tablets and suppositories by liquid chromatography (LC). The method will also determine the hydrolysis degradation products monoacetylbisacodyl and desacetylbisacodyl. The sample is dissolved in 2-propanol, and the extract is diluted with the mobile phase and injected into a liquid chromatograph fitted with a mu Bondapak C18 column and an ultraviolet detector set at 254 nm. The column is eluted with methanol-acetonitrile-0.01M citric acid (25 + 25 + 50). The pooled mean recovery value for bisacodyl from commercial enteric-coated tablets and suppositories was 99.7% with a pooled coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.72%. For content uniformity assays, the CVs were 0.7 and 1.0% for groups of 10 individual commercial suppositories and tablets, respectively. Differences between assay values by the LC and USP XX methods were 0.2% of declared for enteric-coated tablets (n = 5) and 1.0% of declared for suppositories (n = 2). The LC method can determine as little as 0.015 microgram of the monoacetyl or desacetyl degradation product.