Determination of Diclofenac Sodium in Pharmaceutical Preparations by Computational Image Scanning Densitometry

Abstract

Diclofenac sodium is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug which cures by reducing substances in the body that cause pain and inflammation. There is always a risk of heart attack and stroke in case of taking excess of the drug. In present study a simple, fast and cost-effective method is devised for the assay of diclofenac sodium in locally available pharmaceutical preparations. The method is based on the reaction of the drug with 2, 4-DNPH (2, 4-Dinitro phenyl hydrazine). Micro-quantities of the drug gave green coloured spots when mixed with 2,4-DNPH on a pre-coated TLC plate, in the presence of potassium iodate and lithium hydroxide. The spots were scanned by using a flatbed scanner and the images obtained were computationally quantified with the help of custom-made software to measure the optical density. The reaction parameters were optimized, and the results were compared with the standard spectrophotometric method