Kinetic determination of acarbose and miglitol in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations using alkaline potassium permanganate.

A simple and sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method was established for the determination of acarbose and miglitol in bulk and in their pharmaceutical preparations using alkaline potassium permanganate as an oxidizing agent. The method involves determination of acarbose and miglitol by kinetic studies of their oxidation at room temperature for a fixed time of 15 minutes for acarbose and 25 minutes for miglitol. The absorbance of the colored manganate ion was measured at 610 nm. Alternatively, the kinetic decrease in the absorbance of permanganate upon addition of the studied drugs at 525 nm was also used. The absorbance concentration plot was rectilinear over the concentration range of 4-20 and 1-10 μg/ml for acarbose and miglitol, respectively. The detection limits were 0.189 and 0.089 μg/ml at 610 nm and 0.081 and 0.179 μg/ml at 525 nm for acarbose and miglitol respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of these drugs in their dosage forms. The results obtained were in good agreement with those obtained with the reference methods.