Estimation of trace amounts of chromium(III) in multi-vitamin with multi-mineral formulations

Two new specific, selective, simple and inexpensive spectroscopic methods for estimating a trace amount of chromium (Cr3+) from a multi-vitamin with multi-mineral pharmaceutical formulations were developed. The proposed methods are based on the conversion of Cr3+ to Cr6+ either by oxidation with a nitric acid-perchloric acid mixture (method I) or by fusion with an excess amount of sodium carbonate (method II), followed by the complexation of Cr6+ with 1,5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC) in a mineral acidic solution of pH 1.0 +/- 0.5. The pink-colored complex was estimated at 544 nm. Both methods were found to be linear in the range of 0.1 - 0.8 microg/ml with a limit of detection in the range of 0.0123 - 0.0157 microg/ml and a limit of quantitation in the range of 0.0419 - 0.0525 microg/ml. Method I was found to be suitable for estimating Cr3+ species in various formulations, like tablets, capsules and syrups, while method II was found to be suitable for tablets and capsules. Satisfactory recovery from spiked samples of standard Cr3+ suggests no interference of any excipients and diverse ions present in the formulations. The developed methods were compared with AAS by ANOVA, and no significant difference was observed.