Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of ethinylestradiol and levonorgestrel by partial least squares and principal component regression multivariate calibration

Two spectrophotometric methods for the determination of Ethinylestradiol (ETE) and Levonorgestrel (LEV) by using the multivariate calibration technique of partial least square (PLS) and principal component regression (PCR) are presented. In this study the PLS and PCR are successfully applied to quantify both hormones using the information contained in the absorption spectra of appropriate solutions. In order to do this, a calibration set of standard samples composed of different mixtures of both compounds has been designed. The results found by application of the PLS and PCR methods to the simultaneous determination of mixtures, containing 4–11 μg ml−1 of ETE and 2–23 μg ml−1 of LEV, are reported. Five different oral contraceptives were analyzed and the results were very similar to that obtained by a reference liquid Chromatographic method.