| Abstract: | Abstract A novel spectrophotometric method for the assay of δ4 -3-Ketosteroids in formulations is presented. Oxalyldihydrazide in methanol reacts selectively with δ4-3-Ketosteroids at pH 2 forming stable hydrazones which exhibit intense absorption specta at 300 nm. and high molar absorpitivities ranging from 14480–18750 for most steroids studied. Methyltestosterone showed exception ally high sensitivity where its molar absorpitivity was 21630. As little as 5–30 μg steroid were determined with 99.28 ± 0.65–100.16 ± 0.94% accuracy. The method was applied successfully to the micro-determination of cortisone, hydrocortisone, hydrocortisone acetate, norethisterone, norethisterone acetate, norgestrel and methyltestosterone in substance as well as in different pharmaceutical dosage forms. The precision of assay was compareble with existing spectrometric methods for ketosteroid drugs. The method is simple, accurate mean - while selective and more sensitive than the INH-method. |
