Batch and flow-injection methods for the spectrophotometric determination of olanzapine Original Research Article

An indirect batch spectrophotometric and direct flow-injection (FI) visible spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of the novel anti-psychotic drug olanzapine (OLA). The batch method is based on the oxidation of olanzapine by a known excess of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) in the presence of the mixture of sulphuric and phosphoric acids (1:1 (v/v)). The absorbance of unreacted oxidant is measured at 425 nm. The absorbance decreases linearly with increasing concentration of the assayed drug. The FI method with detection at 540 nm is based on the direct oxidation of olanzapine one of two oxidants, cerium(IV) sulphate or potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) in acidic medium. The calibration graph were linear over the range of 2.5–40 μg ml−1 in the batch method and 0.05–300 and 0.5–250 μg ml−1 in the FI methods, used cerium (IV) sulphate and potassium hexacyanoferrate (III) respectively. Both FI methods gave similar results in terms of precision and accuracy. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.), was <1%. The accuracy, obtained from recovery experiments, was 97.9–99.4%. The batch method gave slightly higher R.S.D. values (up to 2.3%) and lower values of accuracy (the recovery was between 96.5 and 96.6%). The methods developed were applied to the determination of olanzapine in a pharmaceutical product.