Determination of citalopram in tablets by capillary zone electrophoresis and by direct and derivative UV-spectrophotometry.

Three rapid, simple and accurate analytical methods for the determination of citalopram in tablets were developed. The capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was carried out using fused silica capillary with 67 mM phosphate buffer pH 7.0 as the background electrolyte, 30 kV of separation voltage and UV detection at 239 nm. The direct spectrophotometric method was performed by measuring the absorbance at the wavelength of 239 nm and derivative spectrophotometric assay was carried out by measuring the value of the second derivative of the spectrum at 210 nm. The linearity range for CZE method was 5-50 microg/mL and for both spectrophotometric methods was 2-12 microg/mL. The recovery in CZE was between 98.6 and 102.4%, in the direct spectrophotometry between 95.0 and 98.0% and in derivative spectrophotometry between 97.6 and 103.3%. The RSD values were between 1.36 and 2.30%, 1.80 and 2.70%, 1.52 and 2.68%, respectively.