Derivative spectrophotometric determination of droperidol in presence of parabens

We have developed a fast and accurate method for the determination of droperidol in the presence of methylparaben and propylparaben using derivative spectrophotometry. The first derivative amplitudes at 255.2 nm were selected for the assay. Calibration graph follows Beer's law in the range of 5-35 mug ml(-1). The coefficient of variation (CV) for intra-day and inter-day precision were less than 1.0 and 2.0%, respectively. The method was applied in the quality control of commercial oral and injection solutions and proved to be suitable for routine analysis. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.