Determination of agomelatine in tablets using liquid chromatography

Agomelatine, a drug molecule, which was developed at the beginning of 2000's, is a melatonergic receptor agonist and 5-HT2C receptor antagonist. It is an antidepressant drug, which is in use for the treatment of major depressive episodes in adults and may possess positive effects on sleep. The aim of this study is to develop a cheap, simple and sensitive analytical method for determination of agomelatine in tablets. Although high performance liquid chromatography is used principally in the experimental studies, UV ? visible spectrophotometry was also utilized in the method development steps. Comparison of chromatographic performances and analytical data obtained using C18 ? bonded monolithic silica and C18 ? bonded "fused core" column was realized. The results were evaluated statistically and the validity of the method was assessed according to the international validation practices. At the end of this study a new method, which can be securely utilizable in the routine tablet analyses was proposed. Keywords: Agomelatine, high performance liquid chromatography, tablet analyses, pharmaceutical analysis