Determination of atenolol in pharmaceutical dosages by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR)

in this work, a simple and rapid alternative method for determining atenolol in solid pharmaceutical dosages has been developed. the method is based on the dissolution, or extraction, of the active principle with chloroform and direct analysis of standard and sample solutions by ftir spectrometry. quantification of the analyte was carried out at the 1512 (principal band) and 1300 cm-1 bands, using as analytical signal the absorbance at 1512 and 1300 cm-1, respectively, corrected by mean appropriate baselines. the main figures of merit at the principal band (working range 0.1-1.0% (w/v), limit of detection (3 σ): 0.004% (w/v), limit of quantification (10 σ): 0.0125% (w/v), precision: 0.6% and sample throughput of 30 samples h-1) are attractive and really adequate for the proposed analysis. the accuracy of the method was certified by means comparative analysis of real samples using the official method described by the united stated of america pharmacopeia (usp). the method was satisfactorily applied to the determination of atenolol in a series of commercially available solid pharmaceutical samples. all the values obtained for the commercial samples were within the limit prescribed by the official pharmacopoeia.