Development and Validation of Visible Spectroscopic Method for the Determination of Mesalamine in Bulk and Tablet Formulation

A simple and cost effective spectrophotometric method is described for the determination of mesalamine in pure form and in pharmaceutical formulations. When the drug reacts with 0.5N HCl and freshly prepared 0.4% w/v Ferric Nitrate solution the colour changes to brown. It shows absorption maximum at 432.6 nm and obeys Beer’s law in the concentration range 50-150μg mL^-1. The colouring reagent is stable when checked for its stability test; it is stable for 4 hours. The absorbance was found to increase linearly with increasing concentration of MSZ, which is corroborated by the calculated correlation coefficient value of 0.9995 (n=6). The validity of the described procedure was assessed. Statistical analysis of the result has been carried out revealing high accuracy and good precision. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of MSZ in pharmaceutical formulations without any interference from common excipients.