Spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric determination of atomoxetine in pharmaceutical preparations

Abstract

Visible spectrophotometric and spectrofluorimetric methods were developed for the determination of atomoxetine in pharmaceutical preparations. The spectrophotometric method was based on a nucleophilic substitution reaction of atomoxetine with 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulphonate (NOS) in an alkaline medium to form an orange-colored product. The absorbance-concentration plot is rectilinear over the range 5 40 mu g mL(-1). The limits of detection and quantification were calculated to be 0.02 mu g mL(-1) and 0.06 mu g mL(-1), respectively. The spectrofluorimetric method was based on the derivatization reaction of 4-chloro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-Cl) with atomoxetine to produce a fluorescent derivative. The formed highly fluorescent derivative that was measured at 462 nm after excitation at 533 nm. The fluorescence-concentration plot is rectilinear over the range 10-500 ng mL(-1). The limits of detection and quantification were calculated to be 0.19 ng mL(-1) and 0.57 ng mL(-1). The analytical performance of both methods was fully validated, and the results were satisfactory. The methods have been successfully applied for the determination of the studied drug in capsules and the results obtained ware in good agreement with those obtained by the reference method.