# Smartphone-assisted HPTLC for simultaneous determination of vonoprazan fumarate and aspirin: a comparative study with HPTLC densitometry

## TL;DR

A smartphone-assisted method for analyzing two drugs using HPTLC is shown to be accurate and cost-effective compared to traditional methods.

## Contribution

A novel smartphone-assisted HPTLC method using Image J is proposed as a sustainable alternative to conventional HPTLC densitometry.

## Key findings

- The smartphone-assisted HPTLC method showed linearity and accuracy comparable to HPTLC densitometry.
- Both methods were successfully applied to pharmaceutical dosage forms with good precision.
- The new method is cost-effective and suitable for routine pharmaceutical analysis.

## Abstract

Smartphone-assisted HPTLC/Image J and HPTLC densitometric methods were developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of vonoprazan fumarate VON and aspirin ASP. Chromatographic separation was carried out using a mobile phase composed of methylene chloride, methanol, and glacial acetic acid in a 60:40:2.0 v/v ratio, yielding well-resolved and symmetric peaks with retention factor Rf values of 0.45 for VON and 0.75 for ASP. Densitometric analysis of chromatograms was performed at 270 nm, showing linearity in the range of 2.0–10 µg/band for VON and 5.0–25 µg/band for ASP. For the smartphone-assisted approach, captured plate images were processed using Image J software to quantify band intensities, providing linearity over 1.0–10 µg/band for VON and 5.0–35 µg/band for ASP. Both methods were validated according to ICH guidelines and successfully applied to pharmaceutical dosage forms, demonstrating good accuracy and precision. Statistical comparison with a reported HPLC method confirmed the reliability of the proposed approaches. Notably, the smartphone-assisted HPTLC/Image J method offers a cost-effective, accessible, and sustainable alternative to conventional HPTLC densitometry, while maintaining comparable accuracy and precision, making it a promising tool for routine pharmaceutical analysis.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-26418-x.