Application of ninhydrin to spectrophotometric determination of famotidine in drug formulations.

A simple and fast spectrophotometric procedure has been developed for the determination of famotidine. The method is based on the interaction of ninhydrin with primary amines present in the famotidine. This reaction produces a blue coloured product which absorbed maximally at 590 nm. The effects of variables such as reagent concentration and reaction time were investigated to optimize the procedure. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 5-30 microg ml(-1) with molar absorptivity of 6.99 x 10(3) l M(-1) cm(-1). The results were validated statistically. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of famotidine in tablets with satisfactory results.