Simultaneous spectrofluorimetric determination of (acetyl)salicylic acid, codeine and pyridoxine in pharmaceutical preparations using partial least-squares multivariate calibration.

A partial least-squares calibration (PLS) method for the simultaneous spectrofluorimetric determination of salicylic acid (SA), codeine (CO) and pyridoxine (PY) is proposed. The determination of SA, CO, and PY has been carried out in mixtures of up to three components by recording the emission fluorescence spectra between 300 and 500 nm (lambda(exc) = 220 nm). Due to the fact of the strong spectral overlap among the excitation and also among the emission spectra of these compounds, a previous separation should be carried out in order to determine them by conventional spectrofluorimetric methodologies. Here, a full-spectrum multivariate calibration PLS method is developed. The experimental calibration matrix was constructed with 14 samples. The concentration ranges considered were 0.1-2.0 (SA), 0.25-3.0 (CO) and 0.10-2.0 (PY) mg x l(-1). The optimum number of factors was selected by using the cross-validation method. The method also allows the simultaneous determination of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), CO and PY by previous alkaline hydrolysis of ASA to SA. To check the accuracy of the proposed method, it was applied to the determination of these compounds in synthetic mixtures and in pharmaceuticals.