Non-equilibrium determination of metoclopramide and tetracaine hydrochloride by sequential injection spectrophotometry

A new sequential injection spectrophotometric method was proposed for the determination of metoclopramide and tetracaine hydrochloride. The method was based on the detection of an unstable red intermediate compound resulting from the reaction of metoclopramide or tetracaine hydrochloride with potassium dichromate, in the presence of sodium oxalate, in sulfuric acid solution. The related reaction mechanisms of this new method have been studied. The experimental conditions were optimized for the stopped-flow and continuous-flow sequential injection models. For continuous flow, the linear range for determination of metoclopramide, the detection limit and the sampling frequency were 13-130 μg ml⁻¹, 9.4 μg ml⁻¹ and 40 samples per hour, respectively. For stopped flow, they were 3-42 μg ml⁻¹, 1.0 μg ml⁻¹ and 18 h⁻¹, respectively. Adopting the continuous-flow model for tetracaine hydrochloride, the linear range was 25-300 μg ml⁻¹, and the detection limit was 18.0 μg ml⁻¹ with sampling frequency of 40 h⁻¹. This method has been used to determine metoclopramide and tetracaine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical preparations, and the results are compared with those determined by the pharmacopoeia method. Statistical analysis reveals that there was no evidence of significant difference between the methods.     

Determination of ternary mixtures of penicillin G, benzathine and procaine by liquid chromatography and factorial design study

In the present work, a rapid and sensitive method for simultaneous determination of penicillin G (PG), benzathine (BE) and procaine (PR) in drug and serum media is introduced. The polar hydro-organic (55/45) mobile phases containing an aqueous solution adjusted to pH = 3.7 and an organic solvent (MeOH) including triethylamine (TEA) and trifluroacetic acid (TFA) are used. The flow rate of 1 ml min⁻¹, a C₈ column (150 mm × 46 mm) with 5 μm i.d. and wavelength at 215 nm are selected for optimal separation condition. The limit of detection (LOD), linear concentration range and relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of this method for the PG are 1.1 μg ml⁻¹, 10-2400 μg ml⁻¹ and 1.7% and for the BE are 1.2 μg ml⁻¹, 12-2100 μg ml⁻¹ and 1.8% and for the PR are 1.5 μg ml⁻¹, 20-2000 μg ml⁻¹ and 2%, respectively. The factorial design is used for the determination of main and interaction effects of pH, flow rate and concentration of MeOH, TEA and TFA in the separation at two levels. Also, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) table is obtained. The results show that TFA and TEA have higher effect than concentration of MeOH, pH and flow rate factors.     

Micro determination of ascorbic acid using methyl viologen

A new simple and sensitive analytical spectrophotometric method is developed for the determination of ascorbic acid reduces methyl viologen to form a stable blue coloured free radical ion. This method has a sensitivity and lower limit detection of 0.1 μg ml⁻¹ of ascorbic acid (0.1 ppm) which is comparable to the flow injection analysis reported earlier. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 1.0-10 μg ml⁻¹ of ascorbic acid per 10 ml of the final solution (0.1-1.0 μg ml⁻¹) at 600 nm. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity were found to be 1.5 × 10⁵ ± 100 l mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹ and 0.001 μg cm⁻², respectively. The method has been applied to the determination of ascorbic acid in food, pharmaceuticals and biological samples.     

Synchronous fluorescence determination of protein with functionalized CdS nanoparticles as a fluorescence probe

Nanometer-sized fluorescent particles have been successfully synthesized. A synchronous fluorescence method, with high sensitivity and selectivity, has been developed for rapid determination of protein with functionalized CdS as a fluorescence probe. When Δλ=260 nm, maximum synchronous fluorescence is produced at 274 nm at pH 7.0. Under optimal conditions, the calibration graphs are linear over the range 0.1-3.0 μg ml⁻¹ for bovine serum albumin (BSA), 0.1-11.0 μg ml⁻¹ for γ-globulin (γ-G) and 0.1-1.4 μg ml⁻¹ for human serum albumin (HSA), respectively. Limits of determination were 0.01 μg ml⁻¹ for BSA, 0.019 μg ml⁻¹ for γ-G and 0.021 μg ml⁻¹ for HSA, respectively. The relative standard deviations of seven replicate measurements were 1.8% for 1.0 μg ml⁻¹ BSA, 2.2% for 1.0 μg ml⁻¹ γ-G and 2.3% for 1.0 μg ml⁻¹ HSA.     

Flow injection chemiluminescence determination of paracetamol

A simple chemiluminometric method using flow injection has been developed for the determination of paracetamol (acetaminophen), based on the chemiluminescence produced by the reduction of tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(III). The latter is obtained by oxidation of tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) by potassium permanganate in dilute sulphuric acid in the presence of paracetamol. A standard or sample solution was injected into the ruthenium(II) stream (flow rate 1.5 ml min⁻¹) which was then merged with potassium permanganate in dilute sulphuric acid stream (flow rate 0.5 ml min⁻¹). The chemiluminescence intensity is enhanced by the presence of manganese(II) ions. Under the optimum conditions, a linear calibration graph was obtained over the range of 0.3-50.0 μg ml⁻¹ and the detection limit was 0.2 μg ml⁻¹ (s/n = 3). The relative standard deviation of the proposed method calculated from 20 replicate injections of 5.0 μg ml⁻¹ paracetamol was 1.1%. The sample throughput was 90 h⁻¹. The method was successfully applied to the determination of paracetamol in commercial pharmaceutical formulations.     

Determination of thyroxine hormone by luminol chemiluminescence

A chemiluminescence (CL) flow system for determination of thyroxine (Thy) is presented. It is based on the catalytic effect of cobalt(II) on the CL reaction between luminol and hydrogen peroxide. The iodinated chemical structure of Thy causes a heavy atom effect. The luminol CL signals show significant quenching by Thy. The calibration graph for Thy is linear for 15-70 μg ml⁻¹ and the 3σ detection limits are 27 μg ml⁻¹ for d-Thy and 23 μg ml⁻¹ for l-Thy.     

Sequential flow injection analysis of ammonium and nitrate using gas phase molecular absorption spectrometry

A flow injection method on the basis of gas phase molecular absorption is described for the sequential determination of ammonium and nitrate. Two hundred microliters of sample solution is injected into the flow line. For ammonium determination, the sample zone is directed to a line in which reacts with NaOH (13 M) and produces ammonia. But for nitrate determination, the sample zone is passed through the on-line copperized zinc (Zn/Cu) reduction column and produces ammonium ion and in the follows ammonia. The produced ammonia in both cases is purged into the stream of N₂ carrier gas. The gaseous phase is separated from the liquid phase using a gas-liquid separator and then is swept into a flow through cell, which has been positioned in the cell compartment of an UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The absorbance of the gaseous phase is measured at 194 nm. Under selected conditions for sequential analysis of ammonium and nitrate, linear relations were found between the peak heights of absorption signals and concentrations of ammonium (10-650 μg ml⁻¹) and nitrate (20-800 μg ml⁻¹). The limit of detections for ammonium and nitrate analysis were 8 and 10 μg ml⁻¹, respectively. The relative standard deviations of repeated measurements of 50 μg ml⁻¹ of ammonium and nitrate were 2.0, 2.9%, respectively. Maximum sampling rate was about 40 samples/h. The method was applied to the determination of ammonium in pharmaceutical products and the sequential determination of ammonium and nitrate in spiked water samples.     

Flow injection spectrophotometric determination of andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata

A simple flow injection colourimetric procedure for determining andrographolide was proposed. It is based on the reaction between andrographolide with 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid, resulting in an intense purplish red complex with a suitable absorption at 536 nm. A standard or sample solution was injected into the 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid stream (flow rate of 1.0 ml min⁻¹) which was then merged with potassium hydroxide stream with the same flow rate. Optimum conditions for determining andrographolide were investigated by univariate method. Under the optimum conditions, a linear calibration graph was obtained over the range 5.0-150.0 μg ml⁻¹ and the detection limit was 1.50 μg ml⁻¹ (3σ). The relatives standard deviation of the proposed method calculated from 10 replicate injections of 10.0 and 80.0 μg ml⁻¹ andrographolide were 0.66% and 1.64%, respectively. The sample throughput was 50 h⁻¹. The proposed method has been satisfactorily applied to the determination of andrographolide in herb plant samples.     

Ultra-trace level determination of hydroquinone in waste photographic solutions by UV-vis spectrophotometry

A simpler UV-vis spectrophotometric method was investigated for hydroquinone (HQ) determination using KMnO₄ as oxidizing agent for conversion of HQ to p-benzoquinone (BQ) as well as signal enhancer. Various parameters such as analytical wavelength, stability time, temperature, pH, solvent effect and interference of chemicals were checked and parameters optimized by using 1 μg ml⁻¹ standard solution of HQ. Beer's Law was applicable in the range of 0.07-2 μg ml⁻¹ and 0.005-0.05 μg ml⁻¹ at 245.5 nm and at 262 nm for aqueous standard solutions of HQ with linear regression coefficient value of 0.9978 and 0.9843 and detection limit of 0.021 μg ml⁻¹ and 0.0016 μg ml⁻¹ HQ, respectively. Standard deviation of 1.7% and 2.4% was true for 1 μg ml⁻¹ and 0.03 μg ml⁻¹ HQ solution (n = 11) run at respective wavelengths. The method was successfully applied to dilute waste photographic developer samples for free HQ determination.     

Flow injection chemiluminescence determination of carbaryl using photolytic decomposition and photogenerated tris (2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(III)

A flow injection (FI) system combined with two photochemical processes is developed for the sensitive and rapid determination of carbaryl. It is based on the on-line photo-conversion of carbaryl into methylamine which subsequently reacts with Ru(bpy)₃³⁺ generated through the on-line photo-oxidation of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺ with peroxydisulphate. The linear concentration range of application was 0.04-4.0 μg ml⁻¹ of carbaryl, with an R.S.D. of 1.2% (for a level of 0.50 μg ml⁻¹) and a detection limit of 0.012 μg ml⁻¹. The sample throughput was 200 injections per hour. The applicability of the method was demonstrated by determining carbaryl in commercial formulations, water, soil, grain and blood serum.     

Downscaling a multicommuted flow injection analysis system for the photometric determination of iodate in table salt

In this work a downscaled multicommuted flow injection analysis setup for photometric determination is described. The setup consists of a flow system module and a LED based photometer, with a total internal volume of about 170 μL. The system was tested by developing an analytical procedure for the photometric determination of iodate in table salt using N,N-diethyl-henylenediamine (DPD) as the chromogenic reagent. Accuracy was accessed by applying the paired t-test between results obtained using the proposed procedure and a reference method, and no significant difference at the 95% confidence level was observed. Other profitable features, such as a low reagent consumption of 7.3 μg DPD per determination; a linear response ranging from 0.1 up to 3.0 m IO₃⁻, a relative standard deviation of 0.9% (n = 11) for samples containing 0.5 m IO₃⁻, a detection limit of 17 μg L⁻¹ IO₃⁻, a sampling throughput of 117 determination per hour, and a waste generation 600 μL per determination, were also achieved.     

Determination of trace amounts of bromide by flow injection/stopped-flow detection technique using kinetic-spectrophotometric method

A simple, sensitive and selective method for the determination of bromide in seawater by using a flow injection/stopped-flow detection technique was examined. The detection system was developed for a new kinetic-spectrophotometric determination of bromide in the presence of chloride matrix without any extraction and/or separation. The detection was based on the kinetic effect of bromide on the oxidation of methylene blue (MB) with hydrogen peroxide in a strongly acidic solution. Large amounts of chloride could enhance the sensitivity of the method as an activator. The decolorisation of the blue color of MB was used for the spectrophotometric determination of bromide at 746 nm. A stopped-flow approach was used to improve the sensitivity of the measurement and provide good linearity of the calibration over the range of 0-3.2 μg ml⁻¹ of bromide. The relative standard deviation was 0.74% for the determination of 2.4 μg ml⁻¹ bromide (n = 5). The detection limit (3σ) was 0.1 μg ml⁻¹ with a sampling frequency of 12 h⁻¹. The influence of potential interfering ions was studied. The proposed method was applied to the determination of bromide in seawater samples and provided satisfactory results.     

Determination of trace iodide in iodised table salt on silver sulfate-modified carbon paste electrode by differential pulse voltammetry with electrochemical solid phase nano-extraction

Electrochemical solid phase nano-extraction, a novel sample preparation technique, was used for the determination of trace iodide in iodised table salt based on the silver sulfate nanoparticle-modified carbon paste electrode. Electrochemical solid phase nano-extraction was realized in the exchange between the sulfate anion in nanoparticles and an iodide anion from aqueous solution. The released silver cation serves as the electrochemical probe for the determination of iodide. The extraction follows a Freundlich adsorption isotherm, and can be used in the detection of iodide in the concentration range 5.0 × 10⁻¹²-4.0 × 10⁻⁹ M. The amount of iodide in iodised table salt was determined as 0.875 ± 0.002 μg/g, which is about 2.5% of the addition amount of iodate with a relative deviation of 5.92% and a standard addition recovery of 90-110%. The large amounts of chloride and iodate did not interfere with the detection.     

Development of an optical chemical sensor based on 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-(diethylamino)phenol in Nafion for determination of nickel ion

An optical chemical sensor based on immobilization of 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-(diethylamino)phenol (Br-PADAP) in Nafion membrane is described. The membranes were cast onto glass substrates and were used for the determination of nickel in aqueous solutions by spectrophotometry. The sensor system is highly transparent, mechanically stable and showed no evidence of reagent leaching. The influence of several parameters such as pH, ligand concentration, and type and concentration of regenerating solution were optimized. The sensor system showed good sensitivity in the range 0.5-20 μg ml⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.3 μg ml⁻¹ Ni(II). The sensor has been incorporated into a home-made flow-through cell for determination of nickel in flowing streams with improved sensitivity, precision and detection limit. The calibration curve in the flow system was linear in the range 0.1-16 μg ml⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.07 μg ml⁻¹. The sensor is easily regenerated by dilute nitric acid solution. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of nickel content in vegetable oil and chocolate samples and the results were compared with those obtained using atomic absorption spectrometry.     

Flow-injection chemiluminescence assay for ultra-trace determination of DNA using rhodamine B-Ce(IV)-DNA ternary system in sulfuric acid media

A novel flow-injection chemiluminescence method for the determination of DNA at ultra-trace level has been established. In 0.8 M sulfuric acid media, the chemiluminescence of the rhodamine B-cerium (IV) or Ce(IV) system is enhanced by DNA, activated previously by imidazole-HCl buffer solution (pH 7.0). The enhanced intensity of chemiluminescence is in proportion to log DNA concentration 1.0×10⁻⁸ to 0.1 μg ml⁻¹ for herring sperm DNA and 2.0×10⁻⁶ to 0.2 μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA with 3σ detection limits of 8.3×10⁻⁹ μg ml⁻¹ for herring sperm DNA and 3.5×10⁻⁷ μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA, respectively. The relative standard deviation for 1.0×10⁻⁴ μg ml⁻¹ herring sperm DNA was 0.99% and 2.0×10⁻³ μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA was 1.1% (n=11). Using the optimized system, DNA contents in six synthetic samples has been determined with recoveries of 99.5-109.0%. The possible mechanism has also been studied in this paper.     

Improved spectrophotometric determination of paraquat in drinking waters exploiting a Multisyringe liquid core waveguide system

A novel Multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) system combined with a 200 cm long pathlength liquid core waveguide (LCW) has been developed enabling for the first time the sensitive spectrophotometric determination at μg L⁻¹ levels of the herbicide paraquat (Pq²⁺) in drinking waters. The proposed system is a simple, economic and fast alternative for obtaining the first evidence of paraquat pollution prior the use of more complex instrumental techniques.The proposed methodology is based on the production of a blue free radical by reaction of Pq²⁺ with ascorbic acid (partially oxidized with potassium iodate) in basic medium. Limits of detection and quantification as low as 0.7 and 2.3 μg L⁻¹, were obtained respectively. The working range is linear up to a concentration of 250 μg L⁻¹ of Pq²⁺. The injection throughput of the proposed method is 34 h⁻¹. The results obtained with the LCW are compared with those using a conventional 1 cm flow cell. The automation of standard addition procedures has been studied and implemented for samples causing matrix effects. Finally the proposed system has been applied to the determination of paraquat in drinking water samples.     

Simultaneous kinetic spectrophotometric determination of periodate and iodate based on their reaction with pyrogallol red in acidic media by chemometrics methods

The univariate and multivariate calibration methods were applied for the simultaneous determination of iodate and periodate in water. The method is based on the reaction of periodate and iodate with pyrogallol red in sulfuric acid media. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance of pyrogallol red at 470 nm. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration ranges of 0.1-12 and 0.1-14 μg ml⁻¹ for iodate and periodate, respectively. The experimental calibration matrix for partial least squares (PLS) and orthogonal signal correction (OSC-PLS) method was designed with 35 mixtures. The results obtained by the PLS and OSC-PLS were statistically compared. The effects of various cations and anions on iodate and periodate determination have been investigated.     

Chemiluminescence determination of ultramicro DNA with a flow-injection method

A high sensitive flow-injection chemiluminescence method for determination of calf thymus DNA and herring sperm DNA has been developed. The method is based on the chemiluminescence reaction of Rhodamine B-cerium(IV)-thermally denatured DNAs in sulfuric acid media. The proposed procedure allows quantitation of DNAs in the range 2.6×10⁻⁵ to 0.26 μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA and 5.0×10⁻⁸ to 5.0×10⁻⁵ μg ml⁻¹ for herring sperm DNA with correlation coefficients 0.9998 and 0.9996 (both n=11), respectively. The detection limits (3σ) are 6.5×10⁻⁶ μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA and 4.3×10⁻⁸ μg ml⁻¹ for herring sperm DNA. The possible mechanism of chemiluminescence in the system is discussed.     

Simultaneous determination of 11 drugs belonging to four different groups in human urine samples by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method

A new, accurate, sensitive and fast reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) as an analytical method for the quantitative determination of 11 drugs in human urine was worked out, optimized and validated. The objects of analysis were imipenem (IMP), paracetamol (PAR), dipyrone (DPR), vancomycin (VCM), amikacin (AMK), fluconazole (FZ), cefazolin (CFZ), prednisolone (PRE), dexamethasone (DEX), furosemide (FUR) and ketoprofen (KET) belonging to four different groups (antibiotics, analgesic, demulcent and diuretic). For HPLC analysis, diode array (DAD) and fluorescence (FL) detectors were used. The separation of analyzed compounds was conducted by means of a LiChroCART^® Purospher^® C₁₈e (125 mm × 3 mm, particle size 5 μm) analytical column with LiChroCART^® LiChrospher^® C₁₈ (4 mm × 4 mm, particle size 5 μm) pre-column with gradient elution. Analyzed drugs were determined within 20 min. The mobile phase was comprised of various proportions of methanol, acetonitrile and 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid in water. AMK was separated and determined from human urine using ortho-phthaldialdehyde-3-mercaptopropionic acid (OPA-3-MPA) as a fluorescent reagent by RP-HPLC-FL. The following retention times for drugs IMP, PAR, DPR, VCM, AMK, FZ, CFZ, PRE, DEX, FUR and KET in human urine were found: 4.01 min, 4.86 min, 6.71 min, 8.14 min, 9.46 min, 10.01 min, 10.90 min, 13.34 min, 14.06 min, 16.03 min and 18.98 min, respectively. Excellent linearity was obtained for compounds in the range of concentration: 0.35-42 μg ml⁻¹, 0.5-45 μg ml⁻¹, 4.5-38 μg ml⁻¹, 0.25-25 μg ml⁻¹, 0.5-35 μg ml⁻¹, 0.25-22 μg ml⁻¹, 0.03-52 μg ml⁻¹, 0.15-25 μg ml⁻¹, 0.25-28 μg ml⁻¹, 0.05-18 μg ml⁻¹ and 0.15-35 μg ml⁻¹ for IMP, PAR, DPR, VCM, AMK, FZ, CFZ, PRE, DEX, FUR and KET, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) for analyzed drugs were calculated in all cases and recovery studies were also performed. Ten human urine samples obtained from patients treated in hospital have been tested. In analyzed samples, one or more drugs from the 11 examined drugs were detected. The concentrations of examined drugs in urine samples ranged between: 1.5-12 μg ml⁻¹ of PAR, 5.2-11.5 μg ml⁻¹ of DPR, 0.13-9.5 μg ml⁻¹ of CFZ and 0.1-8 μg ml⁻¹ of FUR. This method can be successfully applied to routine determination of all these drugs in human urine samples.     

An analytical application of the electrocatalysis of the iodate reduction at tungsten oxide films

Films of non-stoichiometric tungsten oxides have been deposited onto glassy carbon surfaces by electrodeposition from acidic W(VI) solutions and the chemical stability of these oxides was investigated by using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance. At these modified surfaces, rotating disc electrode voltammetric experiments indicated that iodate is electrocatalytically reduced in a mass-transport controlled process. The influence of the film thickness on the response to iodate was investigated and the results indicated a linear relationship between catalytic current and film thickness for relatively thin oxide layers. The modified electrode was employed successfully as an amperometric sensor for iodate in a flow injection apparatus. The linear response of the developed method is extended from 5 μmol L⁻¹ to 5 mmol L⁻¹ iodate with a limit of detection (signal-to-noise = 3) of 1.2 μmol L⁻¹. The repeatability of the method for 41 injections of a 1 mmol L⁻¹ iodate solution was 0.8% and the throughput was determined as 123 h⁻¹. Interference from other oxidant anions such as nitrate and nitrite was not noticeable, whereas bromate and chlorate interfere at slight levels. The method was used in the determination of the iodate content in table salt samples.