Simultaneous determination of N-butylscopolamine and oxazepam in pharmaceutical formulations by first-order digital derivative spectrophotometry

A simple method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of N-butylscopolamine bromide and oxazepam in pharmaceutical formulations using first-order digital derivative spectrophotometry. Acetonitrile was selected as the solvent in which both compounds showed well-defined bands. Both analytes showed good stability in this solvent when solutions of the analytes were exposed to light and temperatures between 20 degrees and 80 degrees C. The simultaneous determination of both drugs was performed by the zero-crossing method at 226.0 and 257.0 nm for N-butylscopolamine and oxazepam, respectively. The linear range of determination was found to be 2.5 x 10(-7) to 8.0 x 10(-5) mol/L for N-butylscopolamine and 7.1 x 10(-8) to 8.0 x 10(-5) mol/L for oxazepam. A very good level of repeatability (relative standard deviation) of 0.2% was observed for N-butylscopolamine and oxazepam. The ingredients commonly found in pharmaceutical formulations do not interfere. The proposed method was applied to the determination of these drugs in pharmaceutical formulations (capsules).