Determination of mirtazapine in tablets by UV spectrophotometric and derivative spectrophotometric methods

Mirtazapine, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 14b-hexahydro-2-methyl-pyrazino [2, 1-a] pyrido [2, 3-c] [G.L. Stimmel, J.A. Dopheide and S.M. Stahl, Pharmacotheraphy 17(1) (1997) 10] benzazepine, is a new and well tolerated antidepressant. It blocks pre-synaptic alpha2-adrenergic receptors and postsynaptic serotonin type 2 and type 3 receptors. The drug is rapid and completely absorbed after oral administration. Mirtazapine was analyzed by HPLC and gas chromatography with nitrogen-sensitive detection. In this study, mirtazapine was analyzed by using UV spectrophotometry, first and second order derivative spectrophotometry. The type of solvent, the degree of derivation, range of wavelength and n value were chosen in order to optimize the conditions. The concentration of mirtazapine in its methanolic solutions were determined between the wavelength range of 225-360 nm in the linearity range of 1-100, 2-100 and 1-120 microg ml(-1) by using the values obtained from UV. first-order derivative (n = 5, delta lambda = 17.5 nm) and second-order derivative (n = 9, delta lambda = 31.5 nm) spectrum of the substance, respectively. The developed UV Spectrophotometric, first-order and second-order derivative spectrophotometric methods were applied to a pharmaceutical preparation as tablet form. Developed UV and derivative UV spectrophotometric method in this study are accurate, sensitive, precise, reproducible and can be directly and easily applied to the pharmaceutical preparations.