title: Continuous flow spectrophotometric determination of paracetamol in pharmaceuticals following continuous microwave assisted alkaline hydrolysis.
abstract: This paper reports a continuous flow-based spectrophotometric method for the determination of paracetamol in pharmaceuticals. Dilute samples containing paracetamol are continuously hydrolysed in an alkaline medium, using a household microwave oven, to p-aminophenol, which reacts with o-cresol in 3.5 M NaOH. The blue derivative thus formed exhibits an absorbance maximum at 620 nm. The detection limit of the method is 0.2 mug ml(-1) and the system obeys Beer's law from 0.6 to 20 mug ml(-1). Repeatability was checked by calculating the R.S.D. for 11 standard solutions containing a paracetamol concentration of 4 mug ml(-1) each and found to be 1.8%. The proposed method was validated by determining paracetamol in various pharmaceutical preparations with average R.S.D. of 2.4%.
authors.affiliation: Analytical Chemistry Division, Campus de Rabanales, University of Córdoba, E-14071 Córdoba, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Criado
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cárdenas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valcárcel