Spectrophotometric determination of caffeine using polyaniline films

Polyaniline (PANI) films were fabricated by chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline monomers using ammonium persulfate (APS). The effects of varying oxidant concentration, oxidant solvent and washing solution in the PANI film deposition were first evaluated. 0.250 M APS in 0.200 M HCl and 0.200 M aniline in 0.200 M HCl were used to produce the emeraldine PANI (green) films which were deposited onto commercially available acctate films. The fabricated PANI film acts as an optical sensor baed on its redox-dependent switching of polyaniline from emeraldine (green) to pernigranilline (blue) form. The change in absorbance of blue PANI films immerse in caffeine-containing solution vs green fabricated PANI films were utilized in analysis of caffeine at 829 nm using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer. Repeatable results were obtained in intra-branch and inter-branch repeatability studies, with coefficient of variation (CV) values ranging rom 9.8-13.9% and 5.1-14.5%, respectively. Linear response was obtained over the concentration of 10.0-50.0 μg/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were determined to be 2.5 and 8.5μg/mL, respectively. The obtained % recovery values of caffeine spiked in aqueous solution ranged from 84.9-107%. Three pharmaceutical formulations containing 20.0 or 25.0 μg/Ml caffeine where analyzed using PANI films by external calibration method. The obtained average caffeine values were 25.2 mg/tablet, 22.4 mg/tablet and 15.4 mg/capsule for Fevadol®, Fevergan® and Alaxan®FR, respectively. These values were 77.0% to 101% of the label claims. Human urine samples spiked with caffeine were also analyzed, after sample pre-treatment. Obtained percent recovery values ranged from 79.1 to 105%. This method demonstrated the potential of laboratory-fabricated PANI films as a low-cost rapid, reliable, simple and accurate method for caffeine quantification in pharmaceutical and clinical specimens. (author)