Spectrophotometric and high performance liquid chromatographic determination of cetirizine dihydrochloride in pharmaceutical tablets.

Derivative spectrophotometric, colorimetric and high performance liquid chromatographic methods, for the determination of the antihistaminic cetirizine dihydrochloride in tablet form were described. Spectrophotometrically, cetirizine was determined by the measurement of its first (1D) and second (2D) derivative amplitudes at 239 (peak) and 243-233 nm (peak-to-trough), respectively. The aqueous solutions obeyed Beer's law in the concentration ranges of 1.2-10.0 and 0.8-10.0 micrograms ml-1 for 1D and 2D measurements, respectively. The colorimetric procedure was based on measuring the absorbency of the coloured chromogen resulted from the reaction between cetirizine sodium salt in polar solvent (DMF) and chloranil at 556 nm. The relation with concentrations was linear over 120-250 micrograms ml-1. Optimization of the reaction conditions was studied. At the same time, investigation of the complex formed was made with respect to its composition and the associated constant. A simple liquid chromatographic assay has been developed for the determination of cetirizine dihydrochloride in the presence of one of its synthesis precursor (hydroxyzine hydrochloride). A Bondapak-C18 column was used with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/0.01 M ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (32:68, v/v) containing 0.1% w/v tetrabutyl ammonium hydrogen sulphate adjusted to pH 3 with phosphoric acid at a flow rate of 2 ml min-1. With salicylic acid as internal standard, quantitation was achieved with UV detection at 230 nm based on the peak height ratios. Beer's law was obeyed in a concentration range of 3-35 micrograms ml-1 and the regression line equation was derived with a correlation coefficient of 0.9999. The validity of the methods was further confirmed using the standard addition method. The proposed procedures were successfully applied to the determination of cetirizine in bulk and tablet form, with high percentage of recovery, good accuracy and precision.