New Spectrophotometric Assay of Pyrantel Pamoate in Pharmaceuticals and Spiked Human Urine Using Three Complexing Agents

Three simple, rapid, inexpensive, and highly sensitive spectrophotometric methods are described for the quantifi cation of pyrantel pamoate (PYP) in pure drug and formulations. The methods are based on the molecular charge-transfer (CT) complexation reaction involving pyrantel base (PYL) as n-donor and iodine as σ-acceptor (I ₂ , method A), and 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP, method B) or picric acid (PA, method C) as π-acceptors. Spectrophotometrically, the CT complexes showed absorption maxima at 380, 420, and 430 nm, for methods A, B, and C, respectively. Under optimum conditions, Beer's law was obeyed over the concentration ranges 0.12–2.9, 0.12–3.75, and 0.12–2.9 μg/ml for methods A, B, and C, respectively. The apparent molar absorptivity of the CT complexes at the respective λmax are calculated to be 2.63 × 10 ⁵ , 6.91 × 10 ⁴ , and 1.73 × 10 ⁵ l/mol·cm respectively and the corresponding Sandell sensitivity values are 0.0009, 0.003, and 0.0012. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) are calculated to be (0.02 and 0.07), (0.05 and 0.15), and (0.02 and 0.07) μg/ml with methods A, B, and C, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy expressed as %RE and precision expressed as %RSD are less than 3%. The methods have been applied to the determination of PYP in tablets, suspensions, and spiked human urine. Parallel assay by a reference method and statistical analysis of the results obtained show no significant difference between the proposed methods and the reference method with respect to accuracy and precision, as evident from the Student’s t and variation ratio tests. The accuracy of the methods has been further ascertained by recovery tests via the standard addition technique.