Application of Folin-Ciocalteu reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of zolmitriptan in pharmaceutical preparations

Institute of Chemical Sciences, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800, Pakistan

E-mail : asadbzu@yahoo.com

Manuscript received online 21 December 2012, revised 06 January 2013, accepted 08 January 2013

A fast and selective spectrophotometric method for the determination of zolmitriptan in pharmaceutical bulk and dosage forms is described. The method is based on the formation of blue colored chromogen due to reduction of tungstate in Folin-Ciocalteu reagent by zolmitriptan in alkaline medium. The colored species bas an absorption ·maximum at 750 nm and the Beer's law obeys over the concentration range of 3-50 µg mL^-1.The limit of. detection and quantification value is 3.43 and 11.33 µg mL^-1 respectively. Application of the proposed method to bulk powder and commercial pharmaceutical tablets is also presented. No significant difference was obtained between the results of the proposed method and the official USP method. The procedure described in this paper is simple, rapid·-and extraction free.