Pharmaceutical powders analysis using FT-Raman spectrometry: simultaneous determination of sulfathiazole and sulfanilamide.

A procedure for rapid quantitative analysis of pharmaceutical powders is described. Powdered samples were measured in a rotating cell in order to avoid sub-sampling problems by increasing the irradiated area. Quantitative determination of sulfathiazole and sulfanilamide, using a simple univariate calibration model is proposed. Even though both antibacterials are of the same chemical family (sulfonamides), the richness of structural information contained in the Raman spectra allowed their determination using the area of two selected bands (1255 and 1629 cm(-1) for sulfathiazole and sulfanilamide, respectively). Relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) values (n=10) of 3.35% and 3.46% for sulfathiazole and sulfanilamide, respectively, demonstrate the good reproducibility of the measurement technique with the rotating cell. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of synthetic mixtures and commercial pharmaceutical powders. The procedure is suitable to be applied to pharmacopoeial uniformity of content testing of batches.