An ultraviolet spectrophotometric method has been proposed for the determination of
dl-methylephedrineHCl (MEP) in pharmaceutical preparations. MEP is quantitatively oxidized with K
3Fe(CN)
6 in an alkaline solution to benzaldehyde having an absorption maximum at 241nm. The oxidation product represents an increase in sensitivity of approximately 68 fold over the absorbance obtained by the ultraviolet determination of MEP.
In this method, MEP is determined without aninfluence of cphedrine-HCl 3times against it at 25°Cand 10times at 20°C. The analytical procedure is as follows.
Transfer 2m
l of the test solution containing 120mg of MEP into a centrifuge tube. Add 2m
l of 3% K
3Fe(CN)
6 solution and 3m
l of pH 10 buffer solution (0.05
M Na
2CO
3-0.05
M Na
2B
4O
7), and stand for 60minutes at 25°C. Add 1m
l of 20% HCl and 20m
lof
n-hexane and shake for 1minute. Separate the
n-hexane layer. Determine the absorbance of the
n-hexane extract at 241nm (
AT) against the reagent blank. At the same time, determine the absorbance of the standard solution (
AS). Calculate the amount of MEP by
AT /
As. The influences of other compounds are examined, among which acetaminophen, acetanilide, phenacetin, ethoxybenzamide, aspirin, sulpyrin etc. interfered considerably. In order to remove these ingredients, the test solution is prepared as follows.
Transfer 40m
l of the sample solution containing 6mg MEP into a column of cation exchange resin (Amberlite CG50 NH
4 type, 5cm×1cm i. d.) and pour 150m
l of water. Then elute MEP with 90m
l of 0.1
N HCl and after adjusting pH to 10 with 2
N NaOH solution, make up exactly to 100m
l with water.
View full abstract