Spectrophotometric method for the determination of verapamil hydrochloride in pharmaceutical formulations using N-bromosuccinimide as oxidant

Abstract

A rapid, simple and sensitive validated visible spectrophotometric method has been described for the assay of verapamil hydrochloride either in pure form or in pharmaceutical formulations. The method involves the oxidation of the verapamil hydrochloride with N-bromosuccinimide in perchloric acid medium at room temperature, leading to the formation of a yellow colored product, which absorbs maximally at 415 nm. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the color is stable up to 45 min and Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range of 10.0-200.0 microg ml(-1) with molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity of 2.55 x 10(3) l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.192 microg cm(-2) per 0.001 absorbance unit, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of the drug in commercial dosage forms. Statistical comparison of the results with those of a reference method by means of point and interval hypothesis shows excellent agreement and indicates no significant difference in accuracy and precision. Results of analyses were optimized and validated statistically and through recovery studies. The experimental true bias of all samples is smaller than +/-2%.