A sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of sulfonamides in pharmaceutical preparations

A new, simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of some sulfonamide drugs has been developed. The method is based on the diazotization of sulfacetamide, sulfadiazine, sulfaguanidine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfamethoxazole, and their coupling with 8-hydroxyquinoline in alkaline media to yield red coloured products with absorption maxima at 500 nm. Beer's law is obeyed from 0.1--7.0 μg mL^-1. The limits of quantification and limits of detection were 0.11--0.18 and 0.03--0.05 μg mL^-1, respectively. Intraday precision (RSD 0.1--0.5%) and accuracy (recovery 97.3--100.8%) of the developed method were evaluated. No interference was observed from common adjuvants. The method has been successfully applied to the assay of sulpha drug in pharmaceutical formulations.