Quantitative Colorimetric Sensing of Carbidopa in Anti-Parkinson Drugs Based on Selective Reaction with Indole-3-Carbaldehyde

The quality of life of patients affected by Parkinson’s disease is improved by medications containing levodopa and carbidopa, restoring the dopamine concentration in the brain. Accordingly, the affordable quality control of such pharmaceuticals is very important. Here is reported the simple and inexpensive colorimetric quantification of carbidopa in anti-Parkinson drugs by the selective condensation reaction between the hydrazine group from carbidopa and the formyl functional group of selected aldehydes in acidified hydroalcoholic solution. An optical assay was developed by using indole-3-carbaldehyde (I3A) giving a yellow aldazine in EtOH:H2O 1:1 (λmax~415 nm) at 70 °C for 4 h, as confirmed by LC-MS analysis. A filter-based plate reader was used for colorimetric data acquisition, providing superior results in terms of analytical performances for I3A, with a sensitivity ~50 L g−1 and LOD ~0.1 mg L−1 in comparison to a previous study based on vanillin, giving, for the same figures of merit values, about 13 L g−1 and 0.2–0.3 mg L−1, respectively. The calibration curves for the standard solution and drugs were almost superimposable, therefore excluding interference from the excipients and additives, with very good reproducibility (avRSD% 2–4%) within the linear dynamic range (10 mg L−1–50 mg L−1).