Chemiluminometric determination of propranolol in an automated multicommutated flow system

In this work, a fully automated analytical methodology for the chemiluminometric determination of propranolol hydrochloride in pharmaceutical preparations is proposed. The developed procedure was based on the oxidation of propranolol by potassium permanganate in acidic medium and was implemented in a multicommutated flow system. The combined automated actuation of syringe pumps and two-way solenoid valves, under computer control, assured a high versatility in terms of sample and reagent manipulation and an effective run-time control of all analytical parameters, including a time-based insertion that enabled a significant solutions saving and the exploitation of different strategies for sample/reagent mixing. The calibration graph was linear over the range 20-150 mg l(-1) of propranolol hydrochloride with a relative standard deviation lower than 1.6% (n = 7). The results were in agreement with those obtained by the reference procedure with a relative deviation between -3.8 and 3.7% and a sampling rate of about 27 samples h(-1).