Spectrophotometric analysis of alkaloids with picrolonic acid

The spectroscopic characteristics of the interaction of alkaloids with picrolonic acid were studied. In solvents of low and intermediate polarity, the presence of alkaloids caused a red shift of the 322 nm band of nonionized picrolonic acid to 355 nm, corresponding to the anionic resonance band. There was also a considerable increase in absorptivity, which was dependent on both the basicity (pKa) and molar concentration of the alkaloid present. Arylamines, aromatic N-heterocycles, and alkaloids lacking an aliphatic amine moiety did not show observable shifts. The interaction was developed into a spectrophotometric assay for the following alkaloids in pharmaceutical preparations: atropine, ephedrine, codeine, emetine, quinine, and strychnine. The method is sensitive to 2 mug alkaloid/ml, with an accuracy of not equal to 1.5% and a standard deviation of not equal to 1.05 - 1.31%.