Spectrophotometric determination of paracetamol in syrup formulations using 2,4,6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde as a coupling agent

Haruna Baba, Nkiruka P. Egbuch

Abstract

A new, simple, sensitive and economical spectrophotometric method for the determination of paracetamol has been developed. The proposed method is based on the reaction of 2, 4, 6-trimethoxybenzaldehyde with hydrolyzed paracetamol (p- aminophenol) to yield a pinkish coloured product with a maximum absorption at 377 nm. There were no interferences observed from the common excipients present in the formulations. The method was successfully employed for the determination of paracetamol in syrup preparations and the results obtained compared favourably with the known official methods.