Comparison of multivariate calibration methods to determine simultaneously mebendazole-cambendazole and mebendazole-thiabendazole in pharmaceutical preparations by UV-visible spectrophotometry.

Three multivariate calibration methods, Principal Component Regression (PCR), the K-matrix method and Q-mode factor analysis followed by varimax and Imbrie's oblique rotations were applied to the simultaneous spectrophotometric determinations of mebendazole (MBZ)-cambendazole (CBZ) and thiabendazole (TBZ)-mebendazole in commercial samples of Exelmin and Helmiben. The calibration set concentrations were selected to contain a +/-10% variation in the quantity of active ingredients as declared by the manufacturer. The Q-mode factor analysis provides superior results for the two pharmaceutical formulations. The K-matrix method proved to be totally inadequate for these determinations. Almost all Q-mode results have relative errors much smaller than 5% of the active ingredient contents. This investigation shows that PCR and Q-mode factor analysis can be used to determine MBZ-CBZ and TBZ-MBZ in commercial drugs.