Mercurimetric potentiometric determination of barbiturates using a solid-state iodide ion-selective electrode

Abstract

A simple potentiometric method is described for mercurimetric titration of barbiturates using a solid-state iodide ion-selective electrode. The optimum titration conditions involve the use of a borate buffer of pH 9-10 as a medium and mercury(II) perchlorate of pH 1.7-1.9 as a titrant. Under these conditions, titration curves with two sharp consecutive inflection breaks are obtained. The first inflection corresponds to quantitative and stoichiometric reaction of barbiturates with mercury(II) and the second break is due to the reaction of the buffer with the titrant. No interferences are caused by Cl-, Br-, PO43- and many excipients and diluents commonly used in the drug formulations. Determination of barbiturates in various pharmaceutical preparations gives reproducible results with an average recovery of 99.1% of the nominal (st.dev. 0.3%) and the method offers significant advantages over the titrimetric method of the British Pharmacopoeia.