Abstract

This article describes the application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as a colorimetric probe for the simple and selective determination of three anthelmintic benzimidazole drugs namely; albendazole, mebendazole and flubendazole. The method was based on the AgNPs aggregation induced by their interaction with the cited drugs. This interaction produced a color change from yellow to blue and accompanied by the appearance of a new surface plasmon resonance peak of AgNPs measured in the range of 615 – 630 nm. The linear concentration ranges of the method were 2.0–11, 2.0–10 and 2.2–15 g mL-1 (r2 = 0.9939, 0.9950 and 0.9938) for the studied drugs respectively. The validation of the analytical performance of the method was carefully investigated, and the results were satisfactory. This method was applied successfully to determine the three benzimidazoles in their pharmaceutical samples (tablets and suspensions) with high accuracy and precision. The suggested procedure is characterized by its simplicity since it does not involve solvent extraction or any critical reaction conditions.

Key words: Benzimidazoles; Citrate-capped Silver nanoparticles; Surface plasmon resonance ; UV–visible Spectrophotometry; Pharmaceutical analysis