International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ISSN- 0975-1491

Vol 2, Issue 3, 2010

ResearchArticle

QUANTITATIVEESTIMATIONOFMUPIROCINCALCIUMFROMPHARMACEUTICAL
OINTMENTFORMULATIONBYUVSPECTROPHOTOMETRY

DEEPAKV.BAGESHWAR,AVINASHS.PAWAR,VINEETAV.KHANVILKAR*,VILASRAOJ.KADAM
BharatiVidyapeethsCollegeofPharmacy,CBDBelapur,NaviMumbai.400614,Maharashtra,India.Email:trushali.k@gmail.com
Received:10Feb2010,RevisedandAccepted:12March2010
ABSTRACT
Assay procedure based on UV Spectrophotometry has been developed for the quantitative estimation of Mupirocin calcium from ointment
formulation. The solvent system and wavelength of detection were optimized in order to maximize the sensitivity of the proposed method.
Mupirocin calcium shows the maximum absorbance at 220 nm and the linearity was observed in the concentration range of 216 g/ml. The
developed UV Spectrophotometric method was found to be accurate, sensitive, precise, and reproducible and was successfully applied to a
pharmaceuticalointmentformulationforquantitativeestimationofMupirocincalcium.
Keywords:MupirocinCalcium,UVSpectrophotometry.

INTRODUCTION

Reagents

Mupirocin calcium was procured as a gift sample from Glenmark

Mupirocin calcium or calcium pseudomonate dihydrate
Pharmaceuticals.Allotherreagentsandsolventswereofanalytical
(monocalcium bis [9((2E)4{[2S,3R,4R,5S)5[(2S,3S,4S,5S)2,3
reagent(AR)grade.
epoxy5hydroxy4methylhexyl]3,4dihydroxy3,4,5,6tetrahydro
2Hpyran2yl}3methylbut2enoyloxy)nonanoate]dihydrate) is a
Methoddevelopment
calciumsaltofasubstancehavingantibacterialactivityproducedby
Preparationofstocksolution
thegrowthofPseudomonasfluorescens1.Thedrugactsbyinhibiting
bacterial isoleucyltRNA synthetase23, thereby blocking protein
A standard stock solution of mupirocin calcium was prepared by
dissolving 100 mg of drug in 100 ml of 50:50 v/v acetonitrile
synthesis and indirectly inhibiting RNA synthesis4. It has in vitro
sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.4). Selection of solvent system was
activity against a range of grampositive and some gramnegative
basedonthesolubilityandstabilityofdruginsolventsystemaswell
bacteria5.Mupirocinhasexcellentactivityagainststaphylococci,and
as extraction of drug from its formulations. 10 ml of this solution
gramnegative organisms such as Haemophilus influenza, Neisseria
wasfurtherdilutedwithsamesolventtogetthefinalconcentrations
6
gonorrohoeaeandMoraxellacatarrhalis .
of100g/mlandthiswasusedasthestandardstocksolution.
Mupirocincalciumisavailableinmarketintheformofointmentand
cream. HPLC method for the measurement of mupirocin
concentrations in both skin layers and percutaneous samples has
been reported7. Another HPLC method for estimation of Mupirocin
calcium in PEG bases is also reported8. A simple UV
spectrophotometricmethodfortheestimationofmupirocincalcium
fromointmentisnotyetreported.

Preparationofcalibrationcurve

Theobjectiveofpresentworkistodevelopasimple,sensitive,rapid
and economic spectrophotometric method for the quantitative
estimation of mupirocin calcium in bulk and pharmaceutical
ointmentformulation.

Analysisofointmentformulation

From the stock solution various dilutions were made to obtain

solutionsof2,4,6,8,10,12,14and16g/ml.Absorbancevaluesof
thesesolutionsweremeasuredatmax220nm.Thecalibrationcurve
was plotted between concentration of Mupirocin calcium and
respective measured absorbances. The stability of the drug in the
solventsystemandduringactualanalysiswasalsoinvestigated.

Commercially available ointments of mupirocin calcium TBACT

(GSK)andSUPIROCIN(GLENMARK)wereselectedforestimationof
totaldrugcontentbytheproposedmethod.Anamountofointment
equivalentto0.2gofmupirocincalciumwasweighedaccuratelyand
transferred to a 100 ml volumetric flask. 25 ml of 50:50 v/v
acetonitrilesodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.4) was added and
vortexed for 5 minutes. Volume was adjusted to 100 ml with the
samesolventandthenfilteredthroughwhattmanfilterpaper(#41).
20 ml of this solution was further diluted to 100 ml with the same
solventtogetfinalconcentrationwithinthelimitsoflinearityforthe
respectiveproposedmethod.Thedrugcontentofmupirocincalcium
ointment was calculated using calibration curve equation. The
resultsaretabulatedinTable3.

MATERIALSANDMETHODS
Instrumentation
A SHIMADZU 1601 UVVISIBLE spectrophotometer with 1.0 cm
matching quartz cells were used for absorbance measurements in
thevisibleandultravioletregions,respectively.TheUVspectrawere
recordedoverthewavelength200300nm.ACYBERLABPHS3DpH
meterwasusedforpHmeasurementofsolventsystem.

Fig.1:UVspectrumofMupirocincalciumin50:50v/vacetonitrilesodiumphosphatebuffer(pH6.4)atmax220nm

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Fig.2:Calibrationcurveformupirocincalcium
Table1:Regressioncharacteristicsoftheproposedmethod
Statisticalparameters

Results
Wavelength220nm
Slope0.12
Intercept 0.029
S.Eofslope
0.0011
S.Eofintercept
0.0023
RegressionequationY=0.2507X0.0337
Correlationcoefficient(r)
0.9994

Y=absorbanceandX=concentrationofthedruging/ml.*Basedonsixcalibrationvalues
Table2:ValidationreportfortheestimationofMupirocincalcium
Analyticalparameters
Accuracy(%)
Precision(%)

Linearity
Specificity(at220nmfor10g/ml)
Limitofdetection*
Limitofquantitation*
Ruggedness(%)

Results
99.960.2263
99.760.1041
216g/ml
1.9910.0073
0.45g/ml
2g/ml
99.870.45

*BasedonS.D.oftheresponseandtheslopeoftheregressioncurve
Recoverystudies

recovery experiments. Here a known amount of pure drug was

added to the preanalysed sample of commercial formulation and
The accuracy of the developed assay method and interference of
the total drug quantity was estimated. The percent analytical
formulation additives were checked by performing analytical
recoveryvaluesarelistedinTable3.
Table3:ResultsoftheassayofpureMupirocincalciumanditscommercialformulationsbytheproposedmethod

Recovery

SampleLabelclaim
Mean
R.S.DS.E.
Analyticalrecovery(%)
(%w/w)

Puredrug2.0450.032 0.35
0.2079 100.130.23
TBACT 21.9880.012
1.060.971999.650.17
Supirocin21.9790.009
0.860.330999.920.23
RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
Mupirocin calcium showed a good linear relationship in the
concentrationrangeof216g/mlin50:50v/vacetonitrilesodium
phosphate buffer (pH 6.4) solvent system. The calibration curve
yielded the linear regression equation as Y = 0.2507 X 0.0337,
whereYistheabsorbanceandXistheconcentration(g/ml)ofpure
mupirocin calcium solution having high correlation coefficient r2=
0.9994.Theresultsofanalysisofmarketedformulationsareshown
inTable3.Highlevelofprecisionfortheproposedmethodhasbeen
evidenced by the low values of standard deviation (S.D), standard
error(S.E.)andrelativestandarddeviation(R.S.D.).Thepercentage
recoveries values indicate no interference from excipients used in
theformulation.
CONCLUSION
The developed UV spectrophotometric method for the quantitative
estimation of Mupirocin calcium is simple, sensitive and economic.
Thesample recoveriesin bothointmentformulationswereingood
agreementwiththeirrespectivelabelclaimsandthussuggestedthe
validity of the methods and noninterference of formulation
87

excipients present in the formulations. So this method can be

appliedforroutine analysis of Mupirocincalcium in pureform and
initsformulationswithoutinterference.
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