Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Official Journal of Pharmacotherpy Group
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An alternative colorimetric method for the determination of chloramphenicol

Chukwuenweniwe J Eboka, Johnson Smart and Sunday A Adelusi

Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research 2003; 2(2): 215-221

Abstract  Full Text

Purpose: To develop a simple, cheap, fast, accurate, sensitive and precise colorimetric method that can be used for the determination of chloramphenicol.

Method: Chloramphenicol was reduced in a mixture of glacial acetic acid and water using titanium (III) chloride at room temperature within 10 min. The reduced product was then heated for 20 min with p-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde to yield the final product whose absorbance was used for the determination of the concentration of chloramphenicol. Results obtained with this method were compared with those obtained with the microbiological assay of chloramphenicol.

Result: The final product of the two step reaction was greenish – yellow in colour,, absorbed strongly in the visible region and obeyed Beer’s law at λ_max  = 440 nm. The method developed was sensitive and accurately determined chloramphenicol in the presence of common excipients and in different dosage forms. There was statistically no significant difference (p < 0.05) between the results with the method developed and those obtained with the microbiological assay of chloramphenicol.

Conclusion: A simple, fast, cheap, precise, sensitive and accurate colorimetric method has been developed that could be routinely used for the determination of chloramphenicol in bulk drug and in different dosage forms. The advantage of the method is its speed and simplicity.

Key words: Chloramphenicol, colorimetric assay, microbiological assay, p-dimethyl-aminobenzaldehyde.