Colourimetric solid-phase extraction coupled with fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy for determination of ascorbic acid in pharmaceutical formulations.

A redox colourimetric solid-phase extraction (C-SPE) procedure for the determination of ascorbic acid (AA) in pharmaceutical formulations was proposed. Iron (III)-2,2'-dipyridyl (Fe(III)-Bpy) reagent solution was used as a colouring reagent for AA and the immobilization of the redox product onto Amberlite XAD-16 resin was achieved. The analyte in the sample reacted with a solid sorbent loaded with the colourimetric reagent (Fe(III)-Bpy) and then quantified directly on the sorbent surface by using a fibre optic reflectance spectrometer (FORS).

Development of an optical fibre reflectance sensor for p-aminophenol detection based on immobilised bis-8-hydroxyquinoline.

2,2'-(1,4-Phenylenedivinylene)bis-8-hydroxyquinoline (PBHQ), a highly sensitive reagent used for the colorimetric determination of p-aminophenol (PAP), was successfully immobilised on XAD-7 and coupled with optical fibres to investigate a sensor-based approach for determining p-aminophenol. The solid-state sensor is based on the reaction of PAP with PBHQ in presence of an oxidant to produce an indophenol dye. The reflectance measurements were carried out at a wavelength of 647 nm since it yielded the largest divergence different in reflectance spectra before and after reaction with the analyte.