Microdetermination of alkaloids in organic solvents by potentiometric titration

A small-intefacial voltaic cell (antimony scratch) is shown to be satisfactory for end-point detection in titrations of various alkaloids and other basic drugs and their salts in ethanol, chloroform or dibutyl ether media with picric acid in the same medium. Small (0.4–4 mg) amounts can be determined. This method has the advantages of being simple and rapid with sharp end-points. The recoveries were 96.52-100.8% for the determinations of 19 drugs and their salts. The relative error was ±5% for five pharmaceutical tablets and injections.