FTIR spectroscopic study of two isostructural statins: Simvastatin and Lovastatin as authentic and in pharmaceuticals

[Display omitted] •FTIR spectroscopic study of Simvastatin.•Full featured discrimination between two isostructural; Simvastatin and Lovastatin.•Non interfering quantitation of Simvastatin in presence of Lovastatin.•Non invasive determination of Simvastatin in pharmaceutical tablets.•Method validation in accordance to ICH and USP NF guidelines. A very simple, economic analytical method with few sample pretreatment steps has been developed for quantitation of simvastatin in the presence of its isostructure lovastatin without any interference. It was utilized for easy and complete fine characterization of simvastatin FTIR spectrum from that of lovastatin. Simvastatin has been determined efficiently by the developed method either alone or in mixture with lovastatin giving LOQ values of 0.009 and 0.02% w/w, respectively indicating good sensitivity. Acceptable correlation coefficient values of 0.9975 and 0.9886 alone and in mixture with lovastatin, respectively. The developed spectroscopic method has provided simple and sensitive tool in quality control laboratories for efficient quantitation simvastatin in pharmaceutical tablets with good recoveries.