Spectrophotometric determination of fluorometholone in pharmaceuticals using 1,4-dihydrazinophthalazine

Abstract

A sensitive and simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of fluorometholone in pharmaceutical formulations using 1,4-dihydrazinophthalazine (1,4-DHPHT; dihydralazine) as the reagent is presented. The yellow coloured dihydralazinohydrazone of fluorometholone was obtained, after heating at 85 degrees C for 2 hrs in acidified 1-propanol as a solvent. The prepared dihydralazinophthalazone shows a maximum at 380 nm with molar absorptivity of 1.91x10(4) lmol(-1)cm(-1). Beers law is obeyed up to 12 mu g/ml of fluorometholone. The method applied for the determination of fluorometholone in pharmaceutical formulations gave precise and reproducible results; recoveries were 97.43% (RSD=2.67%) and 98.25% (RSD=2.56%) for ointment and suppositories, respectively.