Abstract

A simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been developed for determination of betaxolol hydrochloride in bulk powder, and its pharmaceutical dosage forms. In the proposed method, betaxolol is oxidized with sodium periodate, to liberate formaldehyde, which is determined in situ, using acetyl acetone in the presence of ammonium acetate. A yellow coloured chromogen was obtained having absorption maxima at 405 nm. The method is found to be linear in the concentration range of 5-30 µg/ml, with a regression co-efficient of 0.9997. No significant difference was found between the proposed method and official method, when one tailed and two tailed t-test are applied. Various reaction parameters such as concentration of sodium hydroxide and sodium periodate, time required for oxidation, reagent concentration, and time for maximum colour intensity were optimized. The method was validated, and can be used successfully to assay betaxolol in bulk powder, and its pharmaceutical dosage forms viz. ophthalmic solutions.