Voltammetric assay of anti-anginal drug nicorandil in different solvents

Voltammetric behaviour and assay of nicorandil were investigated using square-wave and cyclic voltammetry. Voltammograms in Britton-Robinson (BR) buffer exhibited one well-defined and two merged reduction peaks. The influence of different buffers, electrolytes, pH, scan rates, and concentration of the drug on cathodic peak current was studied. On the basis of electrochemical behaviour of nicorandil, a direct square-wave voltammetric procedure for quantitation of nicorandil has been developed and validated. The proposed square-wave voltammetric method allows quantitation over the range 12.5-62.5 mu g mL(-1) with correlation coefficient of 0.992. The limit of quantification and limit of detection were 21.95 mu g mL(-1) and 6.58 mu g mL(-1), respectively. Precision and accuracy were also checked and found within limits. The developed square-wave method has also been successfully applied for the determination of nicorandil in pharmaceutical formulations. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.