Sensitive Spectrophotometric Determination of Atenolol in Pharmaceutical Formulations Using Bromate-Bromide Mixture as an Eco-Friendly Brominating Agent

Researchers in India have developed a method for determining the presence of Atenolol in bulk drug and tablets.  Atenolol is a popular beta-blocker used world wide for the treatment of hypertension, heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmias.  It has other off label uses such as in the treatment of migraines, anxiety, or alcohol withdrawal.  (Interesting side note about about beta blockers; they are banned substances for athletes competing in sports such as archery, shooting, or golf as they are considered performance enhancing because they reduce the symptoms of sympathetic nervous system's fight or flight response.)  The authors of this study developed three new spectrophotometric methods for the analysis of atenolol based on bromination of atenolol by using an eco-friendly brominating agent.  The initial bromination step of atenolol is shown below:

Link to the study:
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335304/