NOVEL SELECTIVE SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHODS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF METHIMAZOLE IN PURE FORM AND IN PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION

Abstract

Objective: To develop and validate new, selective spectrophotometric colorimetric analytical methods for the quantification of methimazole in its pure form and in its pharmaceutical preparations.

Methods: Method A is based on the oxidation of methimazole with potassium permanganate in alkaline medium, the manganate ion produced was measured at λ_max= 610 nm. Method B is a kinetic determination of methimazole using fixed-time method based on the oxidation of methimazole using known excess of cerium (IV) nitrate in acidic medium and assessing the unreacted Ce (IV) by adding a fixed amount of methyl orange and measuring the absorbance of the resultant solution at λ_max=507 nm which is equivalent to the unreacted methyl orange. The reaction conditions and analytical parameters are investigated and optimized. Method validation was carried out according to ICH guidelines in terms of linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision, and accuracy.

Results: Beer’s law is obeyed in the range of 1.50–15.00 μg/ml for method A and 0.25–3.00 μg/ml for method B. The developed methods were subjected to the detailed validation procedure. The proposed spectrophotometric methods were applied for the determination of the methimazole in its pure form and in its pharmaceutical formulation. The percentage recoveries were found to be 100.82 % and 99.85 % in the pharmaceutical formulation for the two proposed methods, respectively.

Conclusion: Both developed spectrophotometric methods, considered as green analytical chemistry, were found to be novel, highly selective and can be applied for the quality control of methimazole in its pure form and in its pharmaceutical formulation based on the simplicity, applicability of the parameters, accessibility of the reagents employed and reasonably low time of analysis.