Validation of a UV Spectrophotometric Method for the Determination of Melatonine in Solid Dosage Forms

The aim of the work described in this paper was to provide a fast, easy, inexpensive, precise, and accurate method for the determination of melatonine in solid pharmaceutical dosage forms. The developed method is based on a UV first-derivative spectrophotometric determination, which exhibits excellent linearity in aqueous solutions (r2 = 0.996) for analyte concentrations of 1.5–4.5 mg/dL within a pH range of 5–9. Neither excipients present in the formulation nor indole adulterants, such as tryptophan (up to 5%), interfere with the assay. A study of variation parameters showed that sonication temperature was the main factor for successful determination. At temperatures of <45°C, the sample dissolved completely, and accurate spectrophotometric measurements were obtained. A study was conducted of all the parameters established by the United States Pharmacopeia, 23rd Rev., to validate an analytical method for a solid pharmaceutical form, i.e., linearity, range, accuracy, precision, and specificity. All the parameters were in accordance with the acceptance criteria of the Comité de Guías Oficiales de Validación de la Dirección General de Control de Insumos para la Salud de Méjico. In addition, robustness and content uniformity tests were performed to substantiate the usefulness of the method.