A simple, sensitive, validated high performance thin-layer chromatographic method has been developed for simultaneous determination of alprazolam and methyl paraben in tablets. Chromatography was performed on aluminum-backed silica gel 60 F254 TLC plates using chloroform:ethylacetate:methanol:ammonia (4:5:1:0.1, v/v/v) as mobile phase. The TLC scanner set at 254 nm was used for direct evaluation of the chromatogram in reflectance absorbance mode. The Rf value for alprazolam and methyl paraben was found to be 0.26 ± 0.03 and 0.75 ± 0.05, respectively. The calibration range was found to be 800–2000 ng per band (r2 = 0.9935) and 20-200 ng/band (r2= 0.9990) for alprazolam and methyl paraben, respectively. The average percent labeled amount was found to be 100.42 % and 99.45 % for alprazolam and methyl paraben, respectively. The mean percent recovery for both alprazolam and methyl paraben was around 100 percent with standard deviation well below 2 indicating accuracy of the method. The suitability of method for quantitative determination of these compounds was proved by validation in accordance with the requirements of ICH guidelines.
