Second derivative spectrophotometric method for simultaneous determination of tamsulosin and finasteride in pharmaceutical formulations

Simple and reliable second derivative spectrophotometric method was developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of tamsulosin and finasteride in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations. The quantitative determination of the drugs was carried out using the second derivative values measured at 239 nm and 232 nm for tamsuloin and finasteride respectively. The solutions of standard and the sample were prepared in methanol. Calibration graphs constructed at their wavelengths of determination were linear in the concentration range of 1–8 μg ml⁻¹ for tamsulosin and 12.5–100 μg ml⁻¹ for finasteride. The low relative standard deviation values indicate good precision and high recovery values indicate accuracy of the proposed method. Developed second derivative spectrophotometric method was simple, accurate, precise, specific, sensitive and reproducible, which can be directly and easily applied to pharmaceutical dosage forms.