Selective and validated kinetic spectrophotometric method for the determination of irbesartan in pure and...

A novel-coupling reagent is used for the simple and sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric determination of irbesartan (IRB) in pure or pharmaceutical formulations. The method utilizes an oxidative coupling reaction based on oxidation of 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone hydrochloride monohydrate (MBTH) with Ce(IV) in 2% sulfuric acid medium, followed by coupling the produced electrophilic intermediate (diazonium salt of the reagent) with IRB to give greenish-blue colored product (1:1, stoichiometry) having maximum absorption at 629nm and the colored species is stable for more than 1h. The initial rate and fixed time (at 35min) methods are adopted for determination of IRB concentration. The linearity is in the ranges of 5.0-40.0μg/mL and 2.0-45.0μg/mL and the limit of detection is 0.46 and 0.40μg/mL for initial rate and fixed time methods, respectively. Molar absorptivity for the method was found to be 1.50×10⁴L/molcm. The validated kinetic methods can be successfully applied to the analysis of IRB in bulk and tablet dosage form and in the routine quality control analysis. The percentage recoveries were above 100% for both methods. The excipients did not interfere in the analysis.