Assay
Buffer solution A
Dissolve 68 g of monobasic potassium phosphate in 1000 mL of water.
Buffer solution B
Dilute 100 mL of Buffer solution A with water to 1000 mL, and adjust with 45% potassium hydroxide solution to a pH of 7.0.
Mobile phase
Prepare a filtered and degassed mixture of methanol and
Buffer solution B (70:30). Make adjustments if necessary (see
System Suitability under
Chromatography 621).
Standard preparation
Dissolve an accurately weighed quantity of
USP Disulfiram RS in alcohol with sonication and swirling if necessary to obtain a solution having a known concentration of about 1 mg per mL.
[NOTEDiscard this solution after 5 days.
] Quantitatively dilute this solution with
Mobile phase to obtain the
Standard preparation having a known concentration of about 0.02 mg of
USP Disulfiram RS per mL.
[NOTEPrepare the
Standard preparation fresh daily.
]
Assay preparation
Transfer about 50 mg of Disulfiram, accurately weighed, to a 50-mL volumetric flask, add about 40 mL of alcohol, sonicate for 5 minutes to completely dissolve, cool, dilute with alcohol to volume, and mix. [NOTEDiscard this solution after 5 days.] Quantitatively dilute this solution with Mobile phase to obtain the Assay preparation having a concentration of about 0.02 mg per mL. [NOTEPrepare the Assay preparation fresh daily.]
Chromatographic system
(see
Chromatography 621)The liquid chromatograph is equipped with a 250-nm detector and a 4-mm × 15-cm column that contains 5-µm packing L1. The flow rate is about 1 mL per minute. Chromatograph the
Standard preparation, and record the peak responses as directed under
Procedure: the column efficiency determined from the analyte peak is not less than 1800 plates; the tailing factor,
T, for the analyte peak is not more than 2; and the relative standard deviation for replicate injections is not more than 2.0%.
Procedure
Separately inject equal volumes (about 20 µL) of the
Standard preparation and the
Assay preparation into the chromatograph, record the chromatograms, and measure the responses for the major peaks. Calculate the quantity, in mg, of C
10H
20N
2S
4 in the portion of Disulfiram taken by the formula:
2.5C(rU / rS),
in which
C is the concentration, in µg per mL, of
USP Disulfiram RS in the
Standard preparation; and
rU and
rS are the peak responses obtained from the
Assay preparation and the
Standard preparation, respectively.