Spectrophotometric determination of some chemotherapeutic agents using acetyl acetone.

Acetyl acetone is introduced as a new coupling agent for the spectrophotometric determination of some chemotherapeutic agents, such as metoclopramide, dapsone, p-aminobenzoic acid, and cisapride in both pure and dosage forms. The method is based on the diazo-coupling reaction of these chemotherapeutic agents with a new coupling agent, acetyl acetone, in an alkaline medium. The optimum reaction conditions and other analytical parameters are evaluated. The influence of the substrates commonly employed as excipients with these chemotherapeutic agents has been studied. The method is simple, rapid, and sensitive. The results obtained compare favorably with those obtained with other reference methods.