Development of a reversed FIA system for the spectrophotometric determination of Sb(III) and total Sb in antileishmanial drugs

This paper reports the development of a reversed flow injection system for the spectrophotometric determination of Sb(III) and total Sb in antileishmanial drugs. The analytical system is based on the selective reaction between Sb(III) and bromopyrogallol red (BPR) with the decrease of the absorbance at 555 nm. Total Sb concentration was determined after reduction of all Sb(V) to Sb(III) with KI and ascorbic acid. The influence of system variables (chemical and flow type) and the possible interference of high amounts of Sb(V) on Sb(III) was studied as well as the suitable conditions for preparation of samples. It was verified that the use of Triton X-100 enhanced the sensitivity of the methodology and that the previous sonication of the samples was fundamental to achieve accurate results. Under optimized conditions the reversed FIA system was able to process 63 samples per hour with a detection limit of 29 ng ml−1 and a R.S.D. of 3.8% (0.25 μg ml−1 level). Real samples of commercial antileishmanial drugs were analyzed, being observed no statistical difference between the results obtained by the developed system and FAAS or manual methodology in relation to total Sb concentration.