Validated stability-indicating methods for the determination of nizatidine in the presence of its sulfoxide derivative

Four new selective, precise, and accurate methods are described for the determination of nizatidine (NIZ) in the presence of its sulfoxide derivative in both the raw material and pharmaceutical preparations. Method A is based on zero-order (0D), first-derivative (1D), and second-derivative (2D) spectrophotometric measurement of NIZ in aqueous solution at the zero-crossing point of its sulfoxide derivative (at 314, 295-334, and 318-348 nm, respectively). Method B is a 1DD spectrophotometric method based on the simultaneous use of the first derivative of the ratio spectra and the measurement of peak amplitude at 297 nm. Method C uses a solvent-induced derivative-difference spectrophotometry with deltaD1 measurement from peak to peak at 315-345 nm. Method D involves quantitative densitometric evaluation of a mixture of the drug and its sulfoxide derivative after separation by high-performance thin-layer chromatography on silica gel plates with chloroform-methanol (9 + 1, v/v) as the mobile phase; Rf values for NIZ and its sulfoxide derivative were 0.4 and 0.2, respectively. The spot was scanned at 254 nm. The first-derivative spectrophotometric method was used to investigate the kinetics of the hydrogen peroxide degradation process at different temperatures. The apparent pseudo-first-order rate constant, half-life, and activation energy were calculated. The results obtained by the proposed methods were analyzed statistically and compared with those obtained by the official method. These methods are suitable as stability-indicating for the determination of NIZ in the presence of its oxidation-induced degradation product (sulfoxide derivative) either in the bulk powder or in pharmaceutical preparations.