Chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods for the estimation of mebendazole in
pharmaceutical products were developed. The flow injection method was based on the oxidation of
mebendazole by a known excess of sodium hypochlorite at pH=9.5. The excess sodium hypochlorite is then
reacted with chloranilic acid (CAA) to bleach out its color. The absorbance of the excess CAA was recorded
at 530 nm. The method is fast, simple, selective, and sensitive. The chromatographic method was carried out
on a Varian C18 column. The mobile phase was a mixture of acetonitrile (ACN), methanol (MeOH), water
and triethylamine (TEA), (56% ACN, 20% MeOH, 23.5% H2O, 0.5% TEA, v/v), adjusted to pH = 3.0 with
1.0 M hydrochloric acid. Naphazoline nitrate was used as an internal standard. The absorption of mebendazole
was measured using a variable wavelength UV detector at 290 nm. Linearity was obtained in the concentration
range of 1-60 and 0.10-3.0 mg/L for the HPLC and FIA, respectively. The methods were applied successfully
for the assay of mebendazole in pharmaceutical products and no interferences were observed from the common
excipients usually used. The proposed methods were validated for their accuracy and precision.
