Determination of thiamine in pharmaceutical preparations by thin-layer chromatography

Abstract

Thin-layer chromatography has been applied to the selective determination of thiamine in pharmaceutical preparations as it enables the thiamine to be separated from its decomposition products and other ingredients. Coated plates of silica gel G and the solvent mixture chloroform-ethanol (98 per cent.)-water (50 + 25 + 1) were used. The spots of thiamine were localised by viewing under ultraviolet light, scraped off the plate, extracted with 2 N hydrochloric acid and the solution was measured spectrophotometrically at 246 nm.