Spectrophotometric determination of citalopram hydrobromide in tablet dosage form using chloranil

A fast, sensitive and extraction free spectrophotometric method for the quantitative determination of citalopram hydrobromide in pharmaceutical raw and tablet formulations has been proposed. The newly proposed method is based on the charge transfer reaction between citalopram as electron donor and chloranil as electron acceptor. The charge transfer complex of citalopram and chloranil shows λmax at 550 nm in methanol. The experimental conditions such as reaction time, temperature, stoichiometry of the colored complex have been optimized. The developed method allows the determination of citalopram hydrobromide over a concentration range of 1-25 μg/ ml. The proposed method is used to determine the citalopram in tablet dosage forms. The results of proposed method are compared to the official USP method. The newly developed method is accurate, reproducible and easy to perform. It does not require stringent experimental conditions. No interference has been observed for excipients and additives in tablet formulations.