A Terbium Sensitized Luminescence Method for the Assay of Flubiprofen in Pharmaceutical Formulations

Abstract

A sensitive time-resolved luminescence method for the determination of flubiprofen (FLP) in methanol and in aqueous solution is described. The method is based on the luminescence sensitization of terbium (Tb3+ ) by the formation of a ternary complex with FLP in the presence of 4,7 diphenyl 1,10 phenanthroline (DPP) as co-ligand, and Tween-20 as surfactant. The signal for Tb-FLP-DPP was monitored at λex = 285 nm and λem = 552 nm. Optimum conditions for the formation of the complex in an aqueous system were TRIS buffer, pH 8.0, DPP (2.5Å~10−7 M), Tween-20 (0.30%) and 4Å~10-5 mol L-1 of Tb3+ which allowed the determination of 20–1000 ng mL-1 of FLP with a limit of detection (LOD) of 10 ng mL-1 . The relative standard deviations of the method ranged between 0.6 and 1.4% indicating excellent reproducibility of the method. The proposed method was successfully applied for the assays of FLP in pharmaceutical formulations and spiked tap water samples with average recoveries of 87% – 95%.

Keywords

• Flurbiprofen
• Terbium
• Sensitized luminescence
• Drug formulation.