Simple spectrophotometric determination of tinidazole in formulation and serum

A simple and rapid spectrophotometric method for the determination of tinidazole is presented. This method is based on the measurement of the absorbance of the signal at 368 nm yielded by bathochromic shift during alkaline hydrolysis of tinidazole in 0.1 N NaOH. The method is linear within the range of 1–30 μg ml⁻¹, and the detection and quantification limits are 0.07 and 0.25 μg ml⁻¹, respectively. The precision of the method, expressed as the relative standard deviation, is 0.19% for a tinidazole concentration of 15 (μg ml⁻¹. The method was applied to the analysis of tinidazole in pharmaceutical formulations and serum.     

Determination of glyphosate by ion chromatography

An ion chromatography system for the determination of glyphosate was described. Ion chromatograph was carried out by suppressed conductivity detection (DX-100). The eluent contained 9 mmol l⁻¹ Na₂CO₃ and 4 mmol l⁻¹ NaOH. The detection limit was 0.042 μg ml⁻¹ (S/N=3). The relative standard deviation was 1.99% and the correlation coefficient of the calibration curve for area was 0.9995. The linear range was 0.042100 μg ml⁻¹. Common inorganic ion and organic acids did not interfere. The recovery was 96.4103.2%. The method was simple, rapid, reliable and inexpensive.     

Reverse flow injection spectrophotometric determination of iron(III) using chlortetracycline reagent

A simple reversed flow injection colourimetric procedure for determining iron(III) was proposed. It is based on the reaction between iron(III) with chlortetracycline, resulting in an intense yellow complex with a suitable absorption at 435 nm. A 200 μl chlortetracycline reagent solution was injected into the phosphate buffer stream (flow rate 2.0 ml min⁻¹) which was then merged with iron(III) standard or sample in dilute nitric acid stream (flow rate 1.5 ml min⁻¹). Optimum conditions for determining iron(III) were investigated by univariate method. Under the optimum conditions, a linear calibration graph was obtained over the range 0.5–20.0 μg ml⁻¹. The detection limit (3σ) and the quantification limit (10σ) were 0.10 and 0.82 μg ml⁻¹, respectively. The relatives standard deviation of the proposed method calculated from 12 replicate injections of 2.0 and 10.0 μg ml⁻¹ iron(III) were 0.43 and 0.59%, respectively. The sample throughput was 60 h⁻¹. The proposed method has been satisfactorily applied to the determination of iron(III) in natural waters.     

Separation of polymer and on-line determination of several antioxidants and UV stabilizers by coupling size-exclusion and normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography columns

A procedure consisting of connecting in series two different HPLC columns, one for size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and the second one a normal-phase (silica) column has been developed. An automatic three-way switching valve was placed between the two columns. Through the valve, the polymer was drained whereas the rest of the compounds, a group of antioxidants and UV stabilizers, were separated and analyzed in the second column. The behaviour of the SEC column in different organic phases is studied. Detection limits about 0.1 μg ml⁻¹ were obtained for BHT, Tinuvin 326 and Tinuvin 327; 0.2 μg ml⁻¹ for Irganox 1076, and 1.1 μg ml⁻¹ for Cyasorb UV 9 and Cyasorb UV 1084. R.S.D. values of the whole process are lower than 4%.     

Silicon determination by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry after generation of volatile silicon tetrafluoride

A method for the determination of silicon by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) is described. The procedure is based on a discontinuous generation of volatile silicon tetrafluoride in concentrated sulphuric acid medium after injecting 125 μl of 0.1%, w/v sodium fluoride solution into 100 μl of the sample. The gaseous silicon tetrafluoride is fed directly into the ICP torch by a flow of 250 ml min⁻¹ Ar carrier gas. The calibration curve was linear up to at least 100 μg ml⁻¹ of Si(IV) and the absolute detection limit was 9.8 ng working with a solution volume of 100 μl. The relative standard deviation for six measurements of 10 μg ml⁻¹ of Si(IV) was 2.32%. The method was applied to the determination of silicon in water and iron ores.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of levofloxacin in tablets, human urine and serum

A spectrofluorimetric method to determine levofloxacin is proposed and applied to determine the substance in tablets and spiked human urine and serum. The fluorimetric method allow the determination of 20–3000 ng ml⁻¹ of levofloxacin in aqueous solution containing acetic acid–sodium acetate buffer (pH 4) with λ_exc=292 and λ_em=494 nm, respectively. Micelle enhanced fluorescence improves the sensibility and allows levofloxacin direct measurement in spiked Human serum (5 μg ml⁻¹) and urine (420 μg ml⁻¹), in 8 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate solutions at pH 5.     

Spectrophotometric method for determination of vanadium and its application to industrial, environmental, biological and soil samples

The very sensitive, fairly selective direct spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace amount of vanadium (V) with 1,5-diphenylcarbohydrazide (1,5-diphenylcarbazide) has been developed. 1,5-diphenylcarbohydrazide (DPCH) reacts in slightly acidic (0.0001–0.001 M H₂SO₄ or pH 4.0–5.5) 50% acetonic media with vanadium (V) to give a red–violet chelate which has an absorption maximum at 531 nm. The average molar absorption coefficient and Sandell’s sensitivity were found to be 4.23×10⁴ l mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹ and 10 ng cm⁻² of V^v, respectively. Linear calibration graph were obtained for 0.1–30 μg ml⁻¹ of V^v: the stoichiometric composition of the chelate is 1:3 (V: DPCH). The reaction is instantaneous and absorbance remain stable for 48 h. The interference from over 50 cations, anions and complexing agents has been studied at 1 μg ml⁻¹ of V^v. The method was successfully used in the determination of vanadium in several standard reference materials (alloys and steels), environmental waters (potable and polluted), biological samples (human blood and urine), soil samples, solution containing both vanadium (V) and vanadium (IV) and complex synthetic mixtures. The method has high precision and accuracy (s=±0.01 for 0.5 μg ml⁻¹).     

Flow injection chemiluminescence determination of polyhydroxy phenols using luminol-ferricyanide/ferrocyanide system

It was found that the weak chemiluminescence produced from the reaction of polyhydroxy phenols with luminol in alkaline solution could be strongly enhanced by ferricyanide and ferrocyanide. Based on this found, a new flow injection chemiluminescence method is proposed for the determination of four polyhydroxy phenols: pyrogallol, phlorglucinol, quinol and resorcinol. The detection limits of the method are 0.03 μg ml⁻¹ pyrogallol, 0.03 μg ml⁻¹ phlorglucinol, 0.04 μg ml⁻¹ quinol, and 0.02 μg ml⁻¹ resorcinol. The possible mechanism of CL reactions is also discussed briefly.     

Simple flow-injection system for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in water samples

A novel spectrophotometric reaction system was developed for the determination of nitrite as well as nitrate in water samples, and was applied to a flow-injection analysis (FIA). The spectrophotometric flow-injection system coupled with a copperised cadmium reductor column was proposed. The detection was based on the nitrosation reaction between nitrite ion and phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene), a commercially available phenolic compound. Sample injected into a carrier stream was split into two streams at the Y-shaped connector. One of the streams merged directly and reacted with the reagent stream: nitrite ion in the samples was detected. The other stream was passed through the copperised cadmium reductor column, where the reduction of nitrate to nitrite occurred, and the sample zone was then mixed with the reagent stream and passed through the detector: the sum of nitrate and nitrite was detected. The optimised conditions allow a linear calibration range of 0.03–0.30 μg NO₂⁻-N ml⁻¹ and 0.10–1.00 μg NO₃⁻-N ml⁻¹. The detection limits for nitrite and nitrate, defined as three times the standard deviation of measured blanks are 2.9 ng NO₂⁻-N ml⁻¹ and 2.3 ng NO₃⁻-N ml⁻¹, respectively. Up to 20 samples can be analyzed per hour with a relative standard deviation of less than 1.5%. The proposed method could be applied successfully to the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in water samples.     

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of ethinylestradiol and levonorgestrel by partial least squares and principal component regression multivariate calibration

Two spectrophotometric methods for the determination of Ethinylestradiol (ETE) and Levonorgestrel (LEV) by using the multivariate calibration technique of partial least square (PLS) and principal component regression (PCR) are presented. In this study the PLS and PCR are successfully applied to quantify both hormones using the information contained in the absorption spectra of appropriate solutions. In order to do this, a calibration set of standard samples composed of different mixtures of both compounds has been designed. The results found by application of the PLS and PCR methods to the simultaneous determination of mixtures, containing 4–11 μg ml⁻¹ of ETE and 2–23 μg ml⁻¹ of LEV, are reported. Five different oral contraceptives were analyzed and the results were very similar to that obtained by a reference liquid Chromatographic method.     

Reverse flow injection spectrophotometric determination of iron(III) using norfloxacin

A reversed flow injection colorimetric procedure for determining iron(III) at the μg level was proposed. It is based on the reaction between iron(III) with norfloxacin (NRF) in 0.07 mol l⁻¹ ammonium sulfate solution, resulting in an intense yellow complex with a suitable absorption at 435 nm. Optimum conditions for determining iron(III) were investigated by univariate method. The method involved injection of a 150 μl of 0.04% w/v colorimetric reagent solution into a merged streams of sample and/or standard solution containing iron(III) and 0.07 mol l⁻¹ ammonium sulfate in sulfuric acid (pH 3.5) solution which was then passed through a single bead string reactor. Subsequently the absorbance as peak height was monitored at 435 nm. Beer's law obeyed over the range of 0.2–1.4 μg ml⁻¹ iron(III). The method has been applied to the determination of total iron in water samples digested with HNO₃–H₂O₂ (1:9 v/v). Detection limit (3σ) was 0.01 μg ml⁻¹ the sample through of 86 h⁻¹ and the coefficient of variation of 1.77% (n=12) for 1 μg ml⁻¹ Fe(III) were achieved with the recovery of the spiked Fe(III) of 92.6–99.8%.     

Reversed-phase HPLC method for the estimation of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and chlorzoxazone in formulations

A simple, precise and rapid reversed-phase HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous estimation of acetaminophen, ibuprofen and chlorzoxazone in formulations. The method was carried out on a Kromasil® C₈ column using a mixture of 0.2% triethylamine:acetonitrile (adjusted to pH 3.2 using dilute orthophosphoric acid), and detection was carried out at 215 nm using ketoprofen as internal standard. All these drugs showed linearity in the range of 2–10 μg ml⁻¹, and limits of quantification was found to be 10, 50 and 20 ng ml⁻¹ for acetaminophen, ibuprofen and chlorzoxazone, respectively.     

Determination of proteins at nanogram levels by a resonance light-scattering technique with tetra-substituted sulphonated aluminum phthalocyanine

This is the first report on the determination of proteins with tetra-substituted sulphonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlS₄Pc) by resonance light-scattering (RLS). At pH 3.0, the weak RLS of AlS₄Pc can be enhanced by the addition of proteins. Based on this, a novel quantitative method has been developed for the determination of proteins in aqueous solutions. Under optimal conditions, the linear ranges of the calibration curves were 0.050–2.0 μg ml⁻¹ for both human serum albumin (HSA) and human r-IgG. The detection limits were 12.7 ng ml⁻¹ for HSA and 16.1 ng ml⁻¹ for human r-IgG. The method has been applied to the analysis of total protein in human serum samples collected from the hospital and the results were in good agreement with those reported by the hospital, which indicates that the method presented here is not only sensitive, simple, but also reliable and suitable for practical applications.     

Turbidimetric determination of sulphate in waters employing flow injection and lead sulphate formation

An analytical flow-injection procedure based on PbSO₄ colloidal formation is proposed as a turbidimetric determination of sulphate in natural waters. Ethanol-water was used as a medium in order to improve the sensibility of the method. Both chemical and flow variables as well as interfering species were studied. A detection limit of 0.3 μg SO²⁻₄ ml⁻¹ was found, and the analytical range (according to Beer's law) was 2–20 μg SO²⁻₄ ml⁻¹. The precision was better than 3% R.S.D. and the sample throughput was ca. 35 h⁻¹. The method, when compared with a standard methodology, gave good results when applied to water analysis.     

Resolution of mixtures of three nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs by fluorescence using partial least squares multivariate calibration with previous wavelength selection by Kohonen artificial neural networks

A spectrofluorometric method for the quantitative determination of flufenamic, mefenamic and meclofenamic acids in mixtures has been developed by recording emission fluorescence spectra between 370 and 550 nm with an excitation wavelength of 352 nm. The excitation–emission spectra of these compounds are deeply overlapped which does not allow their direct determination without previous separation. The proposed method applies partial least squares (PLS) multivariate calibration to the resolution of this mixture using a set of wavelengths previously selected by Kohonen artificial neural networks (K-ANN). The linear calibration graphs used to construct the calibration matrix were selected in the ranges from 0.25 to 1.00 μg ml⁻¹ for flufenamic and meclofenamic acids, and from 1.00 to 4.00 μg ml⁻¹ for mefenamic acid. A cross-validation procedure was used to select the number of factors. The selected calibration model has been applied to the determination of these compounds in synthetic mixtures and pharmaceutical formulations.     

Development of a luminol-based chemiluminescence flow-injection method for the determination of dichlorvos pesticide

A simple, fast chemiluminescence (CL) flow-injection method based on the reaction of luminol with H₂O₂ in the presence of a cationic surfactant (cyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTMAB) has been described for the direct determination of dichlorvos pesticide (DDVP). Under the optimal conditions, the CL intensity was linear to the DDVP concentration in the range of 0.02–3.1 μg ml⁻¹ (r=0.9998, n=10). The relative standard deviation was 3.4% at 0.35 μg ml⁻¹ (n=10), with a detection limit (3σ) of 0.008 μg ml⁻¹ DDVP. The possible reaction mechanism was also discussed. This method has been successfully applied to the determination of trace DDVP residue in vegetable sample and results have been compared with that of the UV method.     

Development and application of a capillary electrophoresis-electrochemiluminescent method for the analysis of enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin in milk

Enrofloxacin (ENR) is a fluoroquinolone developed exclusively for the use in veterinary practice for the treatment of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, and ciprofloxacin (CIP) is its main active metabolite. Their contents are regulated by the EU Council Regulation no. 2377/90 in animal edible tissues. We developed a sensitive and rapid method for the determination of ENR and CIP by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection. The method is based on the detection of aliphatic tertiary or secondary amino moieties in ENR and CIP with end-column tris(2,2-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) electrochemiluminescence. Parameters that affect separation and detection were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration functions were linear in the range of 0.03–1 μg ml⁻¹ for ENR and 0.05–1.2 μg ml⁻¹ for CIP. The detection limits of ENR and CIR were 10 ng ml⁻¹ and 15 ng ml⁻¹, respectively, based on the signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The relative standard derivations of the peak height and the migration time for ENR and CIP were less than 4.13%. The developed method was successfully applied to determine ENR and CIP in milk with a solid-phase extraction procedure.     

Use of p-dimethylaminobenzalhyde as a colored reagent for determination of procaine hydrochloride by spectrophotometry

Spectrophotometric determination of procaine hydrochloride is described. The procaine hydrochloride reacts with p-dimethylaminobenzalhyde in glacial acetic acid to form an Schiff base which is a yellow compound, and its maximum absorption wavelength is at 455nm, ₄₅₅=3.46×10⁴. The absorbance for procaine hydrochloride from 0.2 to 15 μg ml⁻¹ obeys Beer's law. The linear regression equation of the calibration graph is C=5.866A−0.02, with a linear regression correlative coefficient is 0.9994 and relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.7%; the detection limit is 0.1 μg ml⁻¹; recovery is from 92.0 to 110.0%. Effects of reaction medium, temperature, gentamycin, beneylpenicillin, kanamycin, streptomycin, foreign ions, and stand for time on the determination of procaine hydrochloride have been examined. The results obtained by this method agreed with those by the official method (dead-stop titration). This method is rapid and simple, and can be used for the determination of procaine hydrochloride in injection solution of procaine hydrochloride.     

Direct flame atomic absorption spectrophotometric determination of alkalis in geochemical samples

Flame atomic absorption spectrometry has been used for the estimation of the alkali metal content (as Na₂O and K₂O) in 95 reference materials with diverse matrices (including recently introduced Polish and Chinese standard samples awaiting certification through collaborative studies) using 1000 μg ml⁻¹ of lanthanum and 2000 μg ml⁻¹ of rubidium as matrix buffers for sodium and potassium, respectively. The ±t (Student's values for the samples with known recommended values (degree of freedom n − 1 = 9), at the 95% and 99% confidence levels) indicate that within the confidence levels 95–99% there is no statistical difference between the data presented and the reference data for most of the samples. The agreement between the reported data and the results obtained are generally good.     

Flow-injection chemiluminescence determination of chlortetracycline using on-line electrogenerated [Cu(HIO(6))(2)](5-) as the oxidant

A novel chemiluminescence (CL) flow system for the determination of chlortetracycline is described. It is based on the direct CL reaction of chlortetracycline and [Cu(HIO₆)₂]⁵⁻ in KOH medium. The unstable [Cu(HIO₆)₂]⁵⁻ was on-line electrogenerated by constant-current electrolysis. The CL intensity was linear with chlortetracycline concentration in the range of 0.1–100 μg ml⁻¹. The determination limit was 5.3×10⁻⁸ g ml⁻¹. The whole process could be completed in 1 min. The proposed method is suitable for automatic and continuous analysis, and has been applied satisfactorily to analysis of chlortetracycline in biological fluid.