Quantitative Spectrophotometric Determination of Propranolol Hydrochloride in Pharmaceuticals Using Cerium(IV) Sulphate as Oxidimetric Reagent

Two simple, selective and economic spectrophotometric methods have been developed and validated for the analysis of the propranolol hydrochloride (PPH) in bulk drug and pharmaceuticals. The methods are based on the oxidation of PPH with cerium(IV) in acid medium and subsequent measurement of the excess cerium(IV) either by its reaction with p-dimethylamino benzaldehyde (p-DMAB) and measuring the resulting color at 460 nm (method A) or by its reaction with sulphanilic acid (SAA) to give a pink colored product peaking at 540 nm (method B). The decrease in the absorption intensity of the colored products, due to the presence of the drug has been correlated with its concentration in the sample solution. Different experimental variables affecting the reaction are carefully studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, linear relationships with good correlation coefficients are found in the concentration ranges of 0.4-7.0 mu g ml(-1) for method A and 10-200 mu g ml(-1) for method B, respectively. The calculated molar absorptivity values are 3.72 x 10(4) for method A and 1.43 x 10(3) for method B. The methods have been validated for accuracy, precision, ruggedness and robustness and the results are found to be satisfactory. The proposed methods are successfully applied to the determination of PPH in pure and pharmaceutical dosage forms without any interference from the common excipients. The results obtained by the proposed methods are comparable with those obtained by the official methods.