Development of a rapid derivative spectrophotometric method for simultaneous determination of acetaminophen, diphenhydramine and pseudoephedrine in tablets.

A mixture of acetaminophen, diphenhydramine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride is used for the symptomatic treatment of common cold. In this study, a derivative spectrophotometric method based on zero-crossing technique was proposed for simultaneous determination of acetaminophen, diphenhydramine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. Determination of these drugs was performed using the (1)D value of acetaminophen at 281.5 nm, (2)D value of diphenhydramine hydrochloride at 226.0 nm and (4)D value of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride at 218.0 nm. The analysis method was linear over the range of 5-50, 0.25-4, and 0.5-5 µg/mL for acetaminophen, diphenhydramine hydrochloride and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, respectively. The within-day and between-day CV and error values for all three compounds were within an acceptable range (CV<2.2% and error<3%). The developed method was used for simultaneous determination of these drugs in pharmaceutical dosage forms and no interference from excipients was observed.