Determination of paracetamol in intact tablets by use of near infrared transmittance spectroscopy

Near infrared transmittance spectroscopy was used to determine the analgesi c paracetamol in a pharmaceutical preparation commercially available as tab lets. Spectra were recorded on a dedicated instrument that measures the tra nsmission of intact tablets over the wavelength range 600-1900 nm. Spectral data were processed by using two multivariate calibration methods, viz. st epwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) and partial least-squares regressi on (PLSR). The analgesic contents provided by the two calibration methods w ere comparable and differed by less than 1% from the reference (UV spectrop hotometric) value. The calibration graphs constructed to determine the mean paracetamol content were used to analyse content uniformity in the tablets . (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.