Validated spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of lamotrigine in tablets and human plasma through derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde.

A sensitive, simple and selective spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of Lamotrigine (LMT) in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids. The method is based on reaction of LMT with o-phthalaldehyde in presence of 2-mercaptoethanol in borate buffer of pH 9.8 to yield a highly fluorescent derivative that is measured at 448 nm after excitation at 337 nm. The different experimental parameters affecting the development and stability of the reaction product were carefully studied and optimized. The fluorescence-concentration plot was rectilinear over the range of 0.1-1.0 microg ml(-1) with lower limit of detection (LOD) 0.02 microg ml(-1) and limit of quantification (LOQ) 0.06 microg ml(-1) respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the the analysis of commercial tablets. Statistical comparison of the results obtained by the proposed and reference method revealed no significant difference in the performance of the two methods regarding the accuracy and precision respectively. The proposed method was further extended to the in-vitro and in-vivo determination of the drug in spiked and real human plasma. The mean percentage recoveries in spiked and real human plasma (n = 3) were 95.78 +/- 1.37 and 90.93 +/- 2.34 respectively. Interference arising from co-administered drugs was also studied. A proposal for the reaction pathway with o-phthalaldehyde was postulated.