Abstract
The use of UV spectrophotometry is reported for the analysis of nicotinamide and inosine in ophthalmic solutions. The resolution of these mixtures has been accomplished without prior separation or derivatisation by using: 1) first-derivative measurements at two appropriate zero-crossing points:λ1 = 248 nm, where the absorption corresponding to inosine and excipients is negligible, and λ2 = 261 nm, where the contribution of nicotinamide and excipients to the overall absorption is also negligible, and 2) partial least-squares (PLS-1) regression analysis of zero-order spectral data. Although the components show an important degree of spectral overlap, they have been simultaneously determined by using the latter method with high accuracy (recoveries for nicotinamide and inosine are 101.2% and 100.0 % respectively), with no interference from ophthalmic solution excipients.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Financial support from CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), the University of Rosario, the Fundación Antorchas, the Agencia de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Project No. 06-00000-01765) and University of Litoral (Project CAI + D 17-1-41) is gratefully acknowledged. H. C. Goicoechea thanks FOMEC (Programa para el Mejoramiento de la Calidad de la Enseñanza Universitaria) for a fellowship. M. S. Collado thanks Universidad Nacional del Litoral for a fellowship. The authors thank Laboratorios Novartis (Argentina) for providing the commercial samples and the USP standards.