Counterfeit Tablet Investigation for Paracetamol Contents in Over the Counter Formulations Using UV-Visible Spectrophotometer Analysis

The occurance of counterfeit paracetamol (PCM) in consumer market persist, meaning there could be some of the PCM sold may contain no active ingredients and no therapeutic benefits to consumer. A rapid, precise and simple of spectrophotometric method using UV-Vis analysis was used for the determination of concentration of paracetamol (PCM) from assay of PCM in tablet formulation. The method used have been developed and validated for the assay of PCM using methanol and water as The maximum diluents. wavelength reading (X™ax) are measured at 244 nm. The percentage recoveries were found to range from 97.92 to 104.72. This method was applied to determine the quantity of 21 sample from different brand which available over the counter (OTC) shop and pharmacies from four location. Based on percent of sample recovery, all the sample are considered as authentic due to quantity of active ingredient PCM almost same with the stated dosage. The chemometris analysis such as principle component analysis, (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis, (HCA) was used to classify sample into three clusters, A, B and C, and clustering was found to be based on type of PCM tablet