The potential of combining solid-phase optosensing and multicommutation principles for routine analyses of pharmaceuticals

In this work, we have explored the analytical potential of combining solid-phase optosensing and multicommutation principles, applied to the field of routine analyses of pharmaceuticals. This marriage benefits from the advantaging features of both concepts: the ability of multicommutation to provide increased repeatability, easier sample handling, reduced sample and reagent consumption as well as minor waste generation, combined with the enhancement of both sensitivity and selectivity obtained when a solid support is used to carry out the spectroscopic measurements directly on it. This approach has been evaluated by developing a method for the simultaneous analysis of two active principles (piroxicam and pyridoxine) in pharmaceutical formulations, using a non-polar sorbent as a solid support to attain the separation and subsequent preconcentration/detection of the targeted analytes. A multicommutated flow-through multisensor based on the direct intrinsic solid-phase UV absorbance measurements of the analytes on a packed C18 silica gel bed was then thoroughly developed. The usefulness of this approach was assessed when it was applied to the determination of piroxicam and pyridoxine in different pharmaceutical formulations obtaining remarkable results.