Solid-phase reactor flow-injection on-line oxidizing spectrofluorimetry for determination and dissolution studies of folic acid

A simple, sensitive and specific flow-injection spectrofluorimetric method has been developed for the determination of folic acid in pharmaceuticals. The method is based on use of a lead dioxide solid-phase reactor for on-line oxidation of folic acid into a strongly fluorescent compound with a maximum excitation wavelength of 281 nm and an emission wavelength of 450 nm. Under optimum conditions the fluorescence intensity of oxidation product is proportional to the concentration of folic acid over the range 0.008–2.5 g mL^–1. The detection limit is 0.0001 g mL^–1, the relative standard deviation is 0.85% for 11 replicate determinations of 0.05 g mL^–1 folic acid, and the sample throughput is 20 h^–1. In combination with an on-line filter and dilution, an automated drug-dissolution system was established. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of folic acid in pharmaceutical preparations and dissolution testing.