A direct, sensitive and efficient spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrofurantoin
drug (NIT) in pure as well as in dosage form (capsules) was described. The suggested method was
based on reduction NIT drug using Zn/HCl and then coupling with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone
hydrazone hydrochloride (MBTH) in the presence of ammonium ceric sulfate. Spectrophotometric
measurement was established by recording the absorbance of the green colored product at 610 nm.
Using the optimized reaction conditions, beer’s law was obeyed in the range of 0.5-30 μg/mL, with
good correlation coefficient of 0.9998 and limits of detection and quantitation of 0.163 and 0.544
μg/mL, respectively. The accuracy and precision of the proposed method represented by recovery and
relative standard deviation were satisfactory; about 99.33% and 1.16%, respectively. The proposed
method was applied for determination of NIT in its pharmaceutical forms and the results compared
successfully with those obtained by standard method (British pharmacopeia method).
Keywords: Nitrofurantoin , MBTH , Oxidative coupling reaction.
