RESUMEN
The usefulness of derivative spectrophotometry for the determination of labetalol, sotalol and oxprenolol in binary mixtures and in human spiked serum was checked. To this aim a spectrophotometric analysis of samples in the UV range was carried out and the obtained results revealed that derivative spectropho- tometry allows for the fast, accurate and precise determination of the tested substances in spite of their clear interference in the zero-order spectra. For quantitative determinations "zero-crossing" technique was used to establish wavelengths for zeros of specified component. In a mixture of labetalol and oxprenolol the following wavelengths were established: D1 λ = 245.32 nm and 266.03 nm, D2 λ = 243.30 nm and 301.09 nm. respectively. D3 derivative did not show zeros suitable for quantitative analysis. For the analysis of labetalol and sotalol mixture, D3 derivative spectrophotometry was used at the following wavelengths: = 246.03 nm and λ = 249.91 rum, respectively. In this case, the curves of Dl and D2 derivatives showed no zeros that can be used in quantitative analysis. To determine the concentration of the components in a mixture containing oxprenolol and sotalol the following wavelengths were selected: for oxprenolol DI λ = 245.32 nm, D2 λ = 240.18 run, D3 λ = 232.05 nm and for sotalol Dl λ = 230.56 nm, D2 Xλ= 232.65 nm and D3 X = 238.84 tm, respectively. The developed spectrophotometric method was characterized by high sensitivity and accuracy, LOD determined for sotalol was in the range of 0.21-1.88 µg/mL, for labetalol 1.00-3.43 µg/mL and for oxprenolol 0.16-2.06 µg/mL; LOQ determined for sotalol was in the range of 0.65-5.70 µg/mL, for labetalol 3.11-10.39 µg/mL and for oxprenolol 0.47-6.23 µg/mL, depending on the composition of the tested mixture and the order of the deriv- ative. The recovery of the individual components was within the range of 100 ± 5%. The linearity range was wide and estimated for sotalol in the range of 11.00-38.50 µg/mL, for labetalol 12.80-44.80 µg/mL and for oxprenolol 12.60-44.10 µg/mL with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.9977-0.9999.