Spectrophotometric determination of caffeine and theophylline in pure alkaloids and its application in pharmaceutical formulations

A novel-coupling reagent is used for the simple and sensitive spectrophotometric determination of caffeine (CF) and theophylline (TP) in pure or pharmaceutical formulations. The method is based on the oxidation of CF and TP with sodium metaperiodate in the presence of acetic acid, followed by coupling with 3-methyl 2-benzo thiazolinone hydrazone hydrochloride (MBTH), to produce a blue-colored product with a λmax of 630 nm. The method is reproducible and has been applied for the determination of CF and TP in the tablets. The results are comparable to those obtained with the British pharmacopoeia (BP) method. Common excipients used as additives in pharmaceutical preparations do not interfere in the proposed method.