Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: A rapid alternative technique for the extraction of propranolol from tablets is reported. Traditionally, propranolol has been extracted using sonication, but this has proved to be significantly solvent consuming. In this study, propranolol has been extracted successfully from tablets using an optimised microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MASE) method. The optimum conditions for MASE for this application were: extraction solvent, methanol; extraction time, 45 s (5 s heat and 40 s cool); and extraction solvent volume, 5.00 mL. The recovery of propranolol from tablets by the optimised MASE method was 89.8% with a RSD of 3.7%. This performance was acceptable and comparable with sonication. The determination and identification of the extracts was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection at 290nm. A domestic microwave oven was used for the study, because an industrial MASE apparatus was uncompetitive with sonication with respect to extraction time due to the amount of time required to cool the sample following microwave heating. Safety considerations for domestic microwave ovens are discussed, including the use of a novel two-vial sample cell.