A Mid-Infrared Spectrophotometric Method for Simultaneous Quantification of Naltrexone and Bupropion with Multivariate Calibration

Naltrexone (NTX) and bupropion (BUP) are used in combination in clinical practice for obesity; however, the existing analytical methods for this drug combination are not sustainable. This work aims to develop an analytical method that is faster, easier and less expensive compared with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and involves green technology without solvents to quantify BUP and NTX in combination. The objective was to validate a method using mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy associated with multivariate calibration and chemometrics to simultaneously measure NTX and BUP in a pharmaceutical capsule form. The models were developed using MIR spectroscopy with diffuse reflectance, with interval partial least squares (iPLS) variable selection. The working range selected to optimize the model was from 1885.8 to 1585.4 cm-1. The chosen model was obtained with partial least squares (PLS2) and with data pre-processed by first derivative Savitzky-Golay smoothing followed by mean centering, using four latent variables, providing a root mean square error of prediction of 1.8 mg g-1 for NTX and 6.42 mg g-1 for BUP. The method was validated according to current international standards. In conclusion, the methods developed in the MIR region provided statistically similar results to the validated chromatographic method for commercial pharmaceutical formulations.