Method Development for Visible Spectrophotometric Analysis of Ibuprofen in Pharmaceuticals

Ibuprofen is a prominent member of the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), with good anti-inflammatory action, a very effective analgesic, with increased antipyretic effect. The aim of this research was to exactly quantify pure Ibuprofen content in tablets of a pharmaceutical, by a spectrophotometric analysis method in the Visible range. Ibuprofen was quantitatively converted to a bright orange dye with a yellowish shade, by a color reaction with alphanaphthylamine in the presence of sodium nitrite, in an absolute ethanol medium. Following the analysis, it was found 397.952 milligrams of pure Ibuprofen content /film-coated tablet of the pharmaceutical product. This value was very close to Ibuprofen content declared by the pharmaceutical manufacturer (400 milligrams), with a mean deviation of only 0.512 percent from the officially declared amount of active substance. The value found fits perfectly within the normal limits provided by the European and International Pharmacopoeias standards, taken over by the Romanian Pharmacopoeia, 10th Edition. The spectrophotometric analysis method was then successfully subjected to statistical analysis.