Determination of vitamin B1 in pharmaceutical preparations using a lead ion selective electrode and atomic absorption...

Simple, rapid, and accurate methods have been developed for determining vitamin B1 in pharmaceutical preparations without prior separation of the vitamin. The methods are based on the desulfurization reaction with potassium plumbite and measurement of the unreacted lead(II) ions at 217 nm using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), or by titration with EDTA at pH 4.5 with the lead ion selective electrode and Gran's plot. The results compare favorably with those obtained using the USP fluorometric method. Recoveries of pure vitamin B1 averaged 99.1%, with a standard deviation of 0.8%, and 99.0%, with a standard deviation of 0.7%, for the AAS and ion selective electrode procedures, respectively.