Analysis of Commercial Samples of Aspirin by Ultraviolet Spectroscopy

Danica Ching, Carlo Chiu, Adrian Raphael Choi, Victor Chua, Pamela Cjisel Correa Group 3 2A- Biochemistry Organic Analysis Laboratory

ABSTRACT
An aspirin tablet is analyzed using ultraviolet spectroscopy to determine the quatitative amount of acetylsalicylic acid in a commercial aspirin. 1M NaOH is used to extract the acetylsalicylic acid and then was filtered by #42Whatman filter paper. The filtrate was then diluted in a 250-mL volumetric flask and then 2.0-mL portion of it was again diluted in a 100-mL volumetric flask. The sample in the 100-mL volumetric flask was used as the sample that was placed in the quartz cell to undergo the UVspectroscopy at absorbance 280-310m. The absorbance read in the uv-spectroscopy was compared to the standard curve of the salicylic acid solution for the concentration to be determined and computed to mg of salicylic acid.

INTRODUCTION
Aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid is a drug that is used as an analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory. It is one of the drugs that is most commonly found in households because its cheap and is very useful. Although large amounts of aspirin can be poisonous, an overdose of it is acute and chronic. UV-spectroscopy is used to determine the amount of acetylsalicylic acid in the commercial aspirin. UV-spectrometer is a device that measures the visible light passing through a substance at a specific absorbance meter. It measures light from near ultraviolet to near infrared. The UVspectrometer works this way: a deuterium (D2) lamp for ultraviolet light and a tungsten (W) lamp for visible light. After bouncing off a mirror (mirror 1), the light beam passes through a slit and hits a diffraction grating. The grating can be rotated allowing for a specific wavelength to be selected. At any specific orientation of the grating, only monochromatic (single wavelength) successfully passes through a slit. A filter is used to remove unwanted higher orders of diffraction. The light beam hits a second mirror before it gets split by a half mirror (half of the light is reflected, the other half passes through). One of the beams is allowed to pass through a reference cuvette (which contains the solvent only), the other passes through the sample cuvette. The

intensities of the light beams are then measured at the end. A standard curve is devised using a standardized salicylic acid solution to determine the specific concentration mg of salicylic acid per mL at a specific absorbance meter. UV-spectrometry is used as what BeerLamberts law states: The change in intensity of light (dI) after passing through a sample should be proportional to the (a) path length (b), the longer the path, more photons should be absorbed (b) concentration (c) of sample, more molecules absorbing means more photons absorbed(c) intensity of the incident light (I), more photons mean more opportunity for a molecule to see a photon. Thus, dI is proportional to bcI or dI/I = kbc (where k is a proportionality constant, the negative sign is shown because this is a decrease in intensity of the light, this makes b, c and I always positive. Integration of the above equation leads to Beer-Lambert's Law:

EXPERIMENTAL
A. Sample used: Aspirin (325mg) B. Procedure The aspirin tablet was crushed in a powder using a stirring rod. It was put in a 250-mL beaker and a 25 mL 0.1 M NaOH is added. It was mixed well until the powder is completely dissolved in the solution. A #42Whatman filter paper is placed in a glass funnel and was used to filter the solution into a 250-mL volumetric flask. The beaker was rinsed five times with 15-mL portions of 0.1 M NaOH. The filtrate collected was all placed in the 250-mL volumetric flask. The flask is then diluted up to its mark and was mixed well. A 1-mL pipet was rinsed with distilled water several times and then was rinsed with the aspirin solution for several times again. 2.0 mL of the aspirin solution was pipetted out and was placed in a 100mL volumetric flask. This flask is then diluted up to its mark. A quartz cell was rinsed with the 2.0-mL dilution of the aspirin solution then it was filled up with the solution. It was placed in the UVspectrometer and its UV absorption spectrum was obtained between 280310m.

NaOH H2O

ONa ONa

CH3CO2Na

The absorbance of the salicylic acid sample is found out to be 2.88. Table 1. Conc. Of Std. of Salicylic Acjd at 1.048mg/mL
t.t. no. 1-blank 2-(1mL) 3-(2mL) 4-(3mL) 5-(4mL) 6-(5mL) mg/mL SA 0 0.01048 0.02096 0.03144 0.04192 0.0524 A28O 0 0.162 2.88 3.02 3.07 3.09

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

NaOH is used to obtain the salicylic acid by quantitatively hydrolyzing the acetylsalicylic acid, so that the salicylic acids concentration would be easier to obtain by the UV-spectrometer. The salicylic acid obtained is a clear solution. To obtain the actual amount of aspirin in the tablet a correction factor is applied:

Figure 1. Std. Salicylic Acid Curve y = 66.28x + 0.300 0.06R = 0.733 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0 0 2 4 6 8 y = 0.0081x R = 0.9341

With the data obtained the concentration of the salicylic acid can now be identified. We compute: 2.88=66.20x+0.300 X=(2.88-0.300)/66.28 X=0.0389mgSA/mL To find out the mg of salicylic acid we compute:

We find now the actual concentration of aspirin by using the equation:

The percentage of the actual concentration of salicylic acid against the written concentration of it as given by the manufacturer is:

REFERENCES
From the internet http://bouman.chem.georgetown.edu/S00 /handout/spectrometer.htm Retrieved: March 14, 2012 http://www.scribd.com/doc/49808165/Ab stract Retrieved: March 14, 2012 http://www.scribd.com/doc/6379245/UVSPECTROPHOTOMETER-THEORY Retrieved: March 14, 2012 http://www.chemistry.adelaide.edu.au/ext ernal/soc-rel/content/beerslaw.htm Retrieved: March 14, 2012