Smart manipulation of ratio spectra for resolving a pharmaceutical mixture of Methocarbamol and Paracetamol

•Application of smart and simple recently developed spectrophotometric methods manipulating the ratio spectra.•The described methods are outstanding key for analysis of complex binary mixtures.•Rapid methods without the need for sophisticated instruments or preliminary separation steps.•Green, safe, economic, highly accurate and reproducible methods.•The recently developed RDSM revealed higher selectivity and minimum data manipulation.

Two smart, specific, accurate and precise spectrophotometric methods manipulating ratio spectra are developed for simultaneous determination of Methocarbamol (METH) and Paracetamol (PAR) in their combined pharmaceutical formulation without preliminary separation. Method A, is an extended ratio subtraction one (EXRSM) coupled with ratio subtraction method (RSM), which depends on subtraction of the plateau values from the ratio spectrum. Method B is a ratio difference spectrophotometric one (RDM) which measures the difference in amplitudes of ratio spectra between 278 and 286 nm for METH and 247 and 260 nm for PAR. The calibration curves are linear over the concentration range of 10–100 μg mL−1 and 2–20 μg mL−1 for METH and PAR, respectively. The specificity of the developed methods was investigated by analyzing different laboratory prepared mixtures of the two drugs. Both methods were applied successfully for the determination of the selected drugs in their combined dosage form. Furthermore, validation was performed according to ICH guidelines; accuracy, precision and repeatability are found to be within the acceptable limits. Statistical studies showed that both methods can be competitively applied in quality control laboratories.

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