Determination of some antihistaminic drugs by atomic absorption spectrometry and colorimetric methods

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and colourimetric methods have been developed for the determination of pizotifen (I), ketotifen (II) and loratadine (III). The first method depends on the reaction of the three drugs (I); (II) and (III) with cobalt thiocyanate reagent at pH 2 to give ternary complexes. These complexes are readily extracted with organic solvent and estimated by indirect atomic absorption method via the determination of the cobalt content in the formed complex after extraction in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. It was found that the three drugs can be determined in the concentration ranges from 10 to 74, 12 to 95 and 10 to 93 mu g ml(-1) with mean percentage recovery of 99.71 +/- 0.87, 99.70 +/- 0.79 and 99.62 +/- 0.75%, respectively. The second method is based on the formation of orange red ion pairs as a result of the reaction between (I); (II) and (III) and molybdenum thiocyanate with maximum absorption at 469.5 nm in dichloromethane. Appropriate conditions were established for the colour reaction. Under the proposed conditions linearity was obeyed in the concentration ranges 3.5-25, 5-37.5 and 2.5-22.5 mu g ml(-1) with mean percentage recovery of 99.60 +/- 0.41, 100.11 +/- 0.43 and 99.31 +/- 0.47% for (I); (II) and (III), respectively. The third method depends on the formation of radical ion using 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-rho-benzoquinone (DDQ). The colour formed was measured at 588 nm for the three drugs (I); (II) and (III), respectively. The method is valid in concentration range 10-80 mu g, ml(-1) with mean percentage recovery 99.75 +/- 0.44, 99.94 +/- 0.72 and 99.17 +/- 0.36% for (I); (II) and (III), respectively. The proposed methods were applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical preparations. The results obtained were statistically analysed and compared with those obtained by applying the official and reference methods. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.