Ion-association method for the spectrophotometric determination of the antitussive drug noscapine.
A simple, sensitive and fairly rapid method for the determination of noscapine is described, based on the measurement of the absorbance of the organic soluble ion-association complex formed between the noscapine monocation and a bulky counter anion. Methyl Orange, Bromothymol Blue and Bromocresol Green (BCG) were examined as counter ions. The effect of few solvents, the counter-ion concentration and pH on the extraction were also investigated. The most suitable system was based on BCG (pH 3.0) with chloroform as the extraction solvent. The use of the other counter ions, in conjunction with their respective solvents, was found to be less sensitive. The BCG system exhibits negligible or no interference when used for the determination of 38 ppm of noscapine in the presence of several drug excipients, thus lending itself as a possible procedure for the determination of this alkaloid in pharmaceutical preparations.
Saad
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Department of Chemistry, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P.O. Box 2026, Dhahran 31261 Saudi Arabia.
Sultan
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Suliman
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