Determination of reserpine in tablets by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection: revised procedure

A procedure is presented for the determination of reserpine in tablets by liquid chromatography (LC) that is a slight modification of a method presented in a previous publication. The sample is extracted with methanol, and solutions are filtered through filter paper. For LC, a 7.5 cm column is used; the mobile phase is methanol containing a small volume of an aqueous solution of the sodium salt of 1-pentanesulfonic acid. Detection is by fluorescence with 280 nm excitation and 360 nm emission. Two commercial samples containing 0.1 and 0.25 mg reserpine were analyzed. For each sample, 2 determinations were made on a group composite. Ten tablets were also analyzed individually. A linearity study was conducted, with solutions ranging in concentration from 80 to 120% of the amount present in the reference solution.