Application of new membrane selective electrodes for the determination of drotaverine hydrochloride in tablets and plasma

The construction and electrochemical response characteristics of poly vinyl chloride (PVC) membrane sensors for the determination of drotaverine hydrochloride were described. The sensors are based on the use of the ion association complexes of drotaverine cation with sodium phosphotungestate (Dro-PTA) or ammonium reineckate (Dro-R) counter anions as ion exchange sites in the PVC matrix. The performance characteristics of these sensors, which were evaluated according to IUPAC recommendations, reveal a fast, stable and linear response for drotaverine over the concentration range 10−5 to 10−2 M with cationic slopes of 49.55 and 51.36 mV per concentration decade. The direct potentiometric determination of drotaverine hydrochloride using the proposed sensors gave average recoveries of 99.95 ± 0.71 and 100.04 ± 0.60 for Dro-PTA and Dro-R, respectively. The sensors are used for determination of drotaverine hydrochloride in tablets, in its mixture with caffeine and paracetamol and in plasma. Validation of the method shows suitability of the proposed sensors for use in the quality control assessment of drotaverine hydrochloride. The developed method was found to be simple, accurate and precise when compared with a reported HPLC method.