The present work reports on the investigations based on the interaction of sodium hydroxide with catechol derivatives. The first derivative spectra allowed the simultaneous determination of levodopa and carbidopa. The calibration graph was constructed from the first derivative signals by measuring $^1D$ at 350 nm for standard samples containing between 3 and 30 mg $L^{-1}$ of levodopa and at 305 nm for standard samples containing between 3 and 80 mg $L^{-1}$ of carbidopa. This method offers the advantages of simplicity, rapidity, selectivity and higher sensitivity than most of the existing spectophotometric methods.