Polarographic behaviour and determination of paracetamol and salicylamide after treatment with nitrous acid

A polarographic procedure is described for the determination of paracetamol (acetaminophen) and salicylamide after treatment with nitrous acid. The different experimental parameters affecting the derivatization process and the polarographic analysis were studied. The derivatization products were found to be reduced at the dropping mercury electrode over the whole pH range in Britton-Robinson buffers. At pH 7.0, well defined diffusion-controlled cathodic waves were produced for both compounds. Plots of limiting current vs. concentration were linear over the ranges 0.05–0.75 and 0.25–1.5mM for paracetamol and salicylamide, respectively, in the d.c. mode, with minimum detectability of 2.5 × 10^–6 and 1.25 × 10^–5 M, respectively. The procedure was applied to the analysis of some pharmaceutical dosage forms and the results were in good agreement with those obtained by official and compendial methods.