Electrochemical characterization of tacrine, an antialzheimer's disease drug, and its determination in pharmaceuticals

Tacrine, 9-amino-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridine, an antialzheimer's disease age nt was electrochemically studied and a polarographic method For its quantit ative determination in pharmaceuticals was developed. Tacrine was electroch emically reduced and oxidized in aqueous medium, but for analytical purpose s the cathodic behavior was prefered. According to the linear relation betw een the peak current and the tacrine concentration a differential pulse pol arographic method was developed. precision and accuracy of the dc rc loped method was checked by recovery studies. The proposed method was applied to the individual capsule assay (ICA) of the commercial capsules, showing that the uniformity content requirements were fulfilled. Alternatively a UV spe ctroscopic characterization was conducted from the pH dependence of the abs orbance bands an apparent pK(a) of 10,44 was obtained. For comparative purp oses a spectrophotomeric determination also was developed.