Spectrophotometric Determination of Aminoglycoside Antibiotics Based on their Oxidation by Potassium Permanganate

A rapid, simple and sensitive validated spectrophotometric methods have been described for the assay of neomycin and streptomycin either in pure form or in pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed methods were based on the oxidation of the studied drugs by a known excess of potassium permanganate in acidic medium and estimating the unreacted permanganate with amaranth dye (method A), acid orange II (method B), indigocarmine (method C), and methylene blue (method D), in the same acid medium at a suitable λ_max=521, 485, 610 and 664 nm, respectively. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range of 5-10 and 2-7 mg mL^-1 for neomycin and streptomycin, respectively. The apparent molar absorptivity and sandell sensitivity values are in the range 5.47-6.20x10⁴, 2.35-2.91x10⁵ L mol^-1 cm^-1 and 7.57-8.59, 5.01-6.2 ng cm^-2 for neomycin and streptomycin, respectively. Different variables affecting the reaction were studied and optimized. The proposed methods were applied successfully to the determination of the examined drugs either in a pure or pharmaceutical dosage forms with good accuracy and precision. No interferences were observed from excipients and the results obtained were in good agreement with those obtained using the official methods