POLAROGRAPHIC-BEHAVIOR AND DETERMINATION OF PARACETAMOL AND SALICYLAMIDE AFTER TREATMENT WITH NITROUS-ACID

A polarographic procedure is described for the determination of parace tamol (acetaminophen) and salicylamide after treatment with nitrous ac id. The different experimental parameters affecting the derivatization process and the polarographic analysis were studied. The derivatizati on products were found to be reduced at the dropping mercury electrode over the whole pH range in Britton-Robinson buffers. At pH 7.0, well defined diffusion-controlled cathodic waves were produced for both com pounds. Plots of limiting current vs. concentration were linear over t he ranges 0.05-0.75 and 0.25-1.5 mM for paracetamol and salicylamide, respectively, in the d.c. mode, with minimum detectability of 2.5 x 10 (-6) and 1.25 x 10(-5) M, respectively. The procedure was applied to t he analysis of some pharmaceutical dosage forms and the results were i n good agreement with those obtained by official and compendial method s.