Stability indicating HPLC method for the determination of sparfloxacin (SPAR)

A rapid, sensitive and stability indicating method for the determination of sparfloxacin (SPAR) by RP - HPLC has been developed on a Merck RP - Select B (5 mu m; 12.5 cm x 4.0 mm) column using a mobile phase of water : acetonitrile: triethylamine (80 : 20 : 0.2 v/v) pH of which was adjusted to 2.6 with orthrophosphoric acid. The flow rate was 1 ml / min. and the detection was carried out at 304 nm using Waters 486 variable wavelength detector. The retention time for SPAR was 7.2 min. Linearity range was from 8 - 1000 ppm. The method showed good precision and accuracy when applied to two brands of tablets containing SPAR. In alkaline media SPAR is stable where as it undergoes degradation in acidic and oxidising conditions generating different degradation products the nature of which is required to be established. The proposed method nicely separates the degraded products from SPAR and hence can be used as stability indicating method for the assay of SPAR.