Spectrophotometric Quantitation of Fluoxetine Hydrochloride Using Benzoyl Peroxide and Potassium Iodide

 Fluoxetine hydrochloride reacts with benzoyl peroxide and potassium iodide, after heating for 1 min at 30 °C, to give a blue colour having maximum absorbance at 570 nm. The reaction is selective for fluoxetine with 0.01 mg/mL as visual limit of quantitation and provides a basis for a new spectrophotometric determination. The colour reaction obeys Beer’s law from 0.1 mg/10 mL to 2.0 mg/10 mL of fluoxetine and the relative standard deviation is 0.68%. The qualitative assessment of tolerable amounts of other drugs is also studied. Received September 21, 1998. Revision September 10, 1999.