Quantitative Analysis of Atovaquone, Mefloquine, and Proguanil by Thin Layer Chromatography

Counterfeit drugs pose a serious threat to public health in developing countries. The purpose of this experiment was to employ an inexpensive, easy to use, quantifiable technology to detect substandard drugs. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with different solvent systems was utilized to quantify the antimalarial drugs atovaquone, mefloquine, and proguanil. The results obtained by TLC were further analyzed by a computer program ImageJ. The method involved developing drug samples spotted on TLC plate using an optimum solvent system. The solvent system enabled the elution and successful separation of three drugs on TLC plate. The solvent system reproduced results with Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) less than 13 percent to establish the reliability of the method. The calibration curves having regression values ranging from 0.97-0.99 determined unknown concentrations with percent errors from 2% to 50%. These results indicate the suitability of this technique in determining antimalarial drug quality; however, further studies need to be conducted to improve the accuracy of the technique.