Extractive Spectrophotometric Methods for the Determination of Zolmitriptan in Bulk Drug and Pharmaceutical Formulation Using Bromocresol Green

Abstract

Considering the basic property of zolmitriptan (ZMT) to generate ion-pairs with sulfonephthalein dyes two methods have been developed for its assay in bulk drug and dosage form. The first method (method A) is based on the formation of a colored ion-pair complex (1:1 drug:dye) of ZMT with bromocresol green (BCG) at pH 4.20 ± 0.01 and extraction of the complex into chloroform followed by measurement of the yellow ion-pair complex at 435 nm. In the second method (method B), the drug-dye ion-pair complex was treated with ethanolic potassium hydroxide in ethanolic medium and the resulting base form of the dye was measured at 630 nm. Beer’s law was obeyed in the concentration range of 0.8–18.0 and 0.08–1.4 μg/ml for method A and B, respectively, and the corresponding molar absorptivity values were 1.50⋅104 and 1.52⋅105 l/(mol⋅cm). The Sandell sensitivity values were 0.0191 and 0.0019 μg/cm2 for method A and method B, respectively. The stoichiometry of the ion-pair complex formed between the drug and dye (1:1) was determined by Job’s continuous variation method and the stability constant of the complex was also calculated. The proposed method was successfully extended to dosage form (tablets).