[Polarographic behavior and determination of glimepiride].

Aim: To establish a polarographic method of parallel catalytic hydrogen wave for determination of glimepiride.

Methods: The catalytic wave of glimepiride in the presence of K2S2O8 was used to improve the analytical sensitivity. The rapid determination of glimepiride was done by linear single sweep polarography.

Results: The catalytic hydrogen wave of glimepiride was measured at ca. -1.36 (vs SCE) in 0.09 mol x L(-1) Na2B4O7-KH2PO4 (pH 6.24 +/- 0.1) supporting electrolyte. When 1.0 x 10(-2) mol x L(-1) K2S2O8 was present, the current increased by 25 times, and the peak potentioal was unchanged, producing a more sensitive parallel catalytic hydrogen wave. The peak current of the parallel catalytic hydrogen wave was rectilinear to the glimepiride concentration in the range 1.0 x 10(-7) - 4.2 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1) (r = 0.9990, n = 9). The detection limit was 5.0 x 10(-8) mol x L(-1).

Conclusion: The proposed method could be applied to the determination of glimepiride in pharmaceuticals without preliminary separation.