Sequential injection analysis of cations in pharmaceutical products

Abstract

The development of sequential injection system is aimed to provide industrial, clinical, pharmaceutical and agricultural fields with reliable, precise and cost effective solution handling techniques for their routine analysis. In these fields, process control and quality control of products are essential, since it affects the quality and safety of human lives directly or indirectly. Thus, the system can be used for analysis of a wide range spectrum of species at every stage of production from raw materials to final products. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the application of sequential injection analysis (SIA) in the spectrophotometric determination of selected components from pharmaceutical products. Different pharmaceutical products were analyzed for the contents of iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium and iodide, as they are among the most important elements involved in living systems. Despite their importance, in high concentrations, these elements may also become very toxic to humans, animals and plants. In this work, the development of SIA is discussed, including its numerous advantages and disadvantages over the existing conventional flow injection method. The principles and the theoretical basis on which this technique is based are outlined as well as the manifold design and operational parameters that influence the response characteristics. For each analyte analyzed, all the analytical parameters that affect the SIA-spectrophotometric system are thoroughly investigated and optimized before use. To validate the method, different pharmaceutical samples are analyzed for the aforementioned analyte content. The results obtained for all analytes are compared with manual flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The results obtained proved high reliability, long term stability and simplicity of the system and process a large number of samples per hour. Practically no sample interaction was recorded. Compared to flow-injection analysis (FIA) system, the SIA system gives a very low detection limit. It also contributes to a considerable reduction of sample and reagent(s) used and thus waste produced (which leads to the reduction of environmental harmful effect) is decreased, which makes it a suitable technique for routine analysis in pharmaceutical and other processes.