Utilization of colorimetric and atomic absorption spectrometric determination of aztreonam through ion pair complex formation

Three rapid and sensitive, colorimetric and atomic absorption spectrometric methods were developed for the determination of aztreonam. The proposed me thods depend upon the reaction of cobaltthiocyanate (I) or reineckate (II) ions with the drug to form stable ion-pair complexes which extractable with chloroform. The greenish blue and pink color complexes are determined eith er colorimetrically at lambda max 625 and 525 nm for I and II reagents, res pectively: or by atomic absorption spectrometry directly using the organic extracted complex, or indirectly: using the supernatant. The three procedur es are applied for the determination of aztreonam in pure and in pharmaceut ical dosage forms applying the standard additions technique and the results obtained agreed well with those obtained by the official method. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.