Successful spectrofluorometric and chemiluminescence methods for the estimation of azathioprine as an immunosuppressive drug in pharmaceutical preparation

The determination of azathioprine (AZA), a mercaptopurine derivative, has attracted a particular attention in most researches. Herein, spectrofluorometric (I) and chemiluminescence (II) methods were successfully confirmed to estimate azathioprine (AZA) in bulk powder form and pharmaceutical preparation. The optimum conditions to improve the fluorescence and chemiluminescence intensity of AZA were investigated. The method (I) measured the native fluorescence intensity of AZA in methanol as solvent, without any addition. The micelle-enhanced fluorescence of AZA was affected by the surfactant addition, type of solvent, pH value, and the volume of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The method (II) consisted in the improvement of the weak signal of calcein–KMnO₄ chemiluminescence system by introducing synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the presence of AZA. The analytical curves were linear in the concentrations range 5.0 × 10⁻⁸ − 1.0 × 10⁻⁴ M and 5.0 × 10⁻⁹ − 2.0 × 10⁻³ M with a detection limit equal to 1.5 × 10⁻⁹ M and 2.6 × 10 ⁻¹⁰ M for techniques (I) and (II), respectively. The statistical analysis indicated no significant difference between the proposed and reported methods. The suggested techniques were successfully used to determine azathioprine in its tablet form and were validated according to ICH guidelines.