Extractive spectrophotometric method for the determination of tropicamide

Two simple, rapid, and extractive spectrophotometric methods were developed for the determination of tropicamide (TPC). These methods are based on the formation of ionpair complexes between the basic nitrogen of the drug with bromocresol purple (BCP) and methyl orange (MO) in acidic buffer solution. The formed complexes were extracted with chloroform and measured at 408 and 427 nm using BCP and MO, respectively. Beer's law was obeyed in the range 1.0-16 μg ml(-1) with correlation coefficient (n=6) ≥0.9991. The molar absorpitivity, Sandell sensitivity, detection, and quantification limits were also calculated. The composition of the ion pairs was found 1:1 by Job's method. The proposed methods have been applied successfully for the analysis of TPC in pure and in its eye drops.