Determination of camphor and menthol in pharmaceutical products by gas chromatography

✍ Scribed by Khalid S. Bahjat

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1963
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 163 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3549
• DOI: 10.1002/jps.2600521023

✦ Synopsis

A simple, reliable method for the quantitative determination of camphor and menthol i n pharmaceutical preparations has not been available until now. A practical gas chromatogra h y method has been developed for the simultaneous quantitative determination o t c a m p h o r and menthol in pharmaceutical pre arations, using a flame ionization detector, Apiezon L column, and an internal stan8ard. T h e method was successfully a plied to both cream and liquid preparations. It is a simple, rapid, a n 8 reliable method with an accuracy of f 5 per cent.

INCE many pharmaceutical preparations contain

S camphor and menthol, it is desirable to use a method which is both fast and accurate for the simultaneous determination of camphor and menthol. The presently used methods, described in the "Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists" (1) are time consuming, requiring at least 4.5 hours for camphor and 2 hours for menthol.

The successful separation of menthol-menthone stereoisomers (2-5) and camphor (6) by gas chromatography suggests that it might be used for the simultaneous determination of camphor and menthol in pharmaceutical preparations. Preliminary work showed that the method is simple and rapid. Also it is possible to determine camphor and menthol a t concentrations as little as 0.1%.