Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Engineering Information, Inc. All Rights Reserved UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil

Abstract

This paper describes a quantitative spot-test procedure for the analysis of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in pharmaceutical preparations. The method is based on the complexation of the salicylic acid with iron III forming a deep blue-violet compound. Medicines can be easily analyzed and it is not necessary to do any separations as the reflectance of the final mixture, placed on a sheet of filter paper, is directly measured. Nine commercial medicines containing acetyl-salicylic acid were analyzed with the proposed method. The results were compared with those obtained with the United States Pharmacopoeia recommended procedure. For a degree of freedom n = 4 (n = n1 + n2 – 2) and a = 0.05 all the results agree under the tabulated t-Student test value (2.78).

Index Terms: Photodetectors; Optical Spot test; Aspirine; Diffuse reflectance; Portable equipment.

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