Spectrophotometric determination of cysteine andN-acetylcysteine in pharmaceutical preparations

An accurate fast spectrophotometric method for the determination of cysteine andN-acetyl-cysteine is presented, based on the oxidation of these amino acids by ferric ions in the presence of ferrozine, whereby a violet-coloured complex is formed which absorbs at 562 nm. The method was satisfactory for the determination of cysteine andN-acetylcysteine in samples within the range 0.02–6.00 gml^–1. Effects of time, acidity, ferric ions, ferrozine, sodium perchlorate concentrations and the tolerance limit for other amino acids have been reported. The method was applied to the determination of cysteine in amino acids mixtures andN-acetylcysteine in pharmaceutical preparations.