KINETIC DETERMINATION OF NORTRIPTYLINE IN PHARMACEUTICAL SAMPLES BY USE OF PHOTOMETRIC AND FLUOROMETRIC DETECTION

A fast kinetic method is proposed for the photometric and fluorimetric determination of nortriptyline hydrochloride. The method involves measuring the rate of formation of an adduct with 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan, which exhibits light absorption and fluorescent properties, and the use of a stopped-flow mixing technique, which facilitates application to automatic routine analyses. The reaction rate is measured within only 30 s. The detection limit is 0.12 mu g ml(-1) (photometry) and 0.18 mu g ml(-1) (fluorimetry) and the calibration graph is linear up to 60 mu g ml(-1) in both cases. The precision (as RSD) is less than 1.5%. The proposed method was satisfactorily used for direct analysis of pharmaceutical preparations and a mean recovery near 100% was obtained with both photometric and fluorimetric detection.