Acid-blocked electron transfer: New photoluminescence approach for sensitive assay of quetiapine in dosage form: Application to content uniformity testing

Detecting antipsychotic medicines in biological samples is critical in assessing drug adherence. Quetiapine (QP), a potent atypical antipsychotic drug, poses challenges in detection due to issues like weak sensitivity, time-consuming methodologies, and complex experimental procedures associated with established approaches. In this study, we introduce a rapid, highly sensitive, and reproducible method for detecting QP in the pure form and in its tablet dosage form. In this proposed fluorimetric method, the key mechanism for detection revolves around the disruption of the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) impact associated with the N-atomˈs lone pair of the piperazine ring of the target compound, QP. This disruption is induced by acidifying the reaction environment with acetic acid (1.0 M). The inhibition of PET allows for the highly sensitive detection of the QP drug within a concentration dynamic range of 15.0–500 ng mL⁻¹. The method demonstrates a commendably low detection limit, as well as a quantitation limit of 4.92 and 14.93 ng mL⁻¹, respectively, providing a robust analytical approach for the precise determination of QP concentrations in various samples. Furthermore, the established method was applied to assess tablet content uniformity.