Jurnal Conductometry
Jurnal Conductometry
E-Journal of Chemistry
http://www.e-journals.net                                              2008, 5(S2), 1069-1080
Introduction
Clomiphene is used for induction of ovulation. It is a mixture of E and Z isomers of 2-{4-(2-
chloro-1,2-diphenylvinyl)phenoxy} triethylamine dihydrogen citrate. Different methods
were reported for its determination, either in pure or in dosage forms. It was determined by
spectrophotometric1-3, array-type DNA glass slide4, HPLC5-8, capillary electrophoresis9,
potentiometric10 and NMR methods11. Clomiphene was also determined in muco-adhesive
oral formulation of high permeability / high solubility drugs12.
1070     W. S. HASSAN et al.
were shaken well and left for 5 minute while that of nefazodone were left for 15 minute after
shaking well. Then the solutions were filtered, the precipitate was washed with water and
transferred with the appropriate solvent (acetonitrile for clomiphene citrate and acetone for
nefazodone HCl) to 10 mL measuring flasks. Solutions were shaken well and made up to volume
with the same solvent. Absorbance was measured at 509 and 523.6 against blank (Figure 1).
Table 1. Quantitative parameters for the spectrophotometric determination of clomiphene
citrate and nefazodone HCl using ammonium reineckate
                       Items                          Clomiphene citrate     Nefazodone HCl
  Beer's law range, mg/mL                                 0.2  1.8             0.2  1.6
  Apparent molar absorptivity*, mol-1L cm-1               2.610 2               2.510 2
  Sandell's sensitivity mg /mL per 0 .001A                4.3  10-5            4.9  10-5
   egression equation
  R
  Intercept (a)                                              0.04                 0.123
  Slope (b)                                                0.000377             0.000166
  Correlation Coefficient ( r)                              0.9998               0.9999
  Variance                                                   0.57                  0.30
  Detection Limit                                            0.38                 0.27
*Calculated on the basis of the molecular weight of the drug.
Table 2. Determination of clomiphene citrate and nefazodone HCl through complexation
with ammonium reineckate.
Conductometric procedure
A suitable aliquot (up to 44.5 mL) of sample solution containing 2.5-30 mg of drug was
transferred to a 50 mL calibrated flask and made up to the mark with 50% (v/v) acetone
water mixture. The contents of the calibrated flask were transferred to a beaker and the
conductivity cell was immersed. 510-3 M ammonium reineckate solution was then added
from a micro burette and the conductance was measured subsequent to each addition of
1072     W. S. HASSAN et al.
reagent solution and after thorough stirring. The conductance was measured after 2 min of
each addition was corrected for dilution22 by means of the following equation, assuming that
conductivity is a linear function of dilution.
                                         1         1  1 +  2 
                                        correct = obs          
                                                         1 
     Where 1obs is the observed electrolytic conductivity, v1 is the initial volume and v2 is
the volume of reagent added.
     A graph of corrected conductivity versus the volume of added titrant was constructed
and the end-point determined. 0.1 mL of 5  103 M ammonium reineckate is theoretically
equivalent to 0.633 and 0.30 mg of nefazodone and clomiphene respectively. The procedure
takes 1530 min in all.
                               0.7
                                                                Clomiphene
                               0.6                              Nefazodone
                  nceAbsorba
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
                               0.1
                                  450   500         550          600     650
                                       nm
Figure 1. Absorption spectra of the complex formed through reaction of 1.6 mg/mL
clomiphene and nefazodone with ammonium reineckate.
Assay of pharmaceutical preparations
The contents of 20 tablets of each of the studied drugs were thoroughly ground. A
quantity equivalent to 50 mg drug was accurately weighed into a 100 mL volumetric
flask. The mixture was warmed at 50C in a water bath for 5.0 min, agitated by an
electrical shaker for another 5.0 min, cooled to room temperature and diluted to volume
with double distilled water, filtered and the procedures was completed as under the
general procedures.
Results and Discussion
Clomiphene citrate and nefazodone HCl were found to react with ammonium reineckate to
form stable ion pair complexes. These complexes are sparingly soluble in aqueous
solution, but are readily soluble in acetone or acetonitrile. Investigations were carried out
to establish the most favourable conditions for the ion pair complex formation of the two
drugs with ammonium reineckate to achieve sharp end point and/or maximum color
development, in the determination of the drugs the influence of some variables on the
reaction was tested as follow:
Conditions for spectrophotometric method
Effect of PH: The effect of PH on the precipitation of the drug-reineckate complexes was
studied, different buffers were tried, it was found that buffer had no effect on the reaction.
                                   Spectrophotometric Determination of Clomiphene Citrate               1073
Effect of reagent volume: 4 and 3 mL of 0.01 M ammonium reineckate solution were sufficient
to give best results with clomiphene citrate and nefazodone HCl, respectively (Figure 2).
                                 0.6
                                                                                  Clomiphene
                                                                                  Nefazodone
                                 0.5
                    Absorbance
0.4
0.3
                                 0.2
                                       1       2       3        4        5        6        7        8
                                          Volume, mL
Figure 2. Effect of reagent volume on the absorbance of the complex formed with 1.2 and
1.4 mg/mL clomiphene citrate and nefazodone HCl, respectively.
Effect of solvent: Distilled water, acetone, (acetone : water), ethanol and acetonitrile were
tried. Acetonitrile and acetone were practically used to dissolve (clomiphene-reineckate) and
(nefazodone  reineckate) complexes respectively.
Effect of precipitating time: 5 and 15 minute were sufficient to give complete precipitation,
increasing time than this had no effect on absorption (Figure 3).
Effect of temperature: Temperature had no effect on the absorbance, so experiments were
done at room temperature.
Composition of the complex: The stoichiometric ratio of the studied compounds to
reineckate in the complexes were determined by applying Job's method23, the results showed
that drugs and reagent react in (1:1) ratio, Figure 4.
Condition for conductometric method
Conductometric analysis can be used in many titration procedures when ionic solutions are
involved. As the conductance of a solution is related to the total ionic content, it can be
applied to follow reactions that result in a change in this quantity.
    Conductance measurements are used successfully in quantitative titration of systems in
which the conductance of the solution varies before and after the equivalence point. In these
cases, the titration curve can be represented by two lines intersecting at the end point.
                                   0.6
                                                                              Clomiphene
                                                                              Nefazodone
                                   0.5
                  Absorbance
0.4
0.3
                                   0.2
                                           0       5       10       15       20       25       30
                                                            Time (min)
                                        Time, min
Figure 3. Effect of precipitation time on the absorbance of the complex formed through
reaction of 1.2, 1.4 mg/mL clomiphene and nefazodone with ammonium reineckate.
1074     W. S. HASSAN et al.
                             1.2
                                                            Clomiphene
                                                            Nefazodone
                              1
                Absorbance
                             0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
                              0
                                   0   0.2   0.4      0.6     0.8        1
                                             1/(1+2)
Figure 4. Continuous variation plot for 0.01M clomiphene citrate or nefazodone HCl and
0.01 M ammonium reineckate.
     Investigations were carried out to establish the most favourable conditions for the ion
pair complex formation of nefazodone and clomiphene with ammonium reineckate to
achieve sharp end point and/or maximum colour development, in the determination of the
drug. The influence of some variables on the reaction has been tested as follow:
     The optimum conditions for performing the titration in a quantitative manner were
elucidated as described below. Titrations in different media were attempted to obtain the
best results. Preliminary experiments in:
(i)     Aqueous drug solution with aqueous reagent solution,
(ii) Ethanol drug solution with ethanol reagent solution,
(iii) Drug solution with reagent solution, both in ethanolwater (50%, v/v) mixture
(iv) Acetone drug solution with acetone reagent solution and
(v)     Drug solution with reagent solution, both in acetonewater (50% v/v) mixture.
        Preliminary experiments showed that procedure acetonewater (50% v/v) media was
        the most suitable for successful results, because in other procedures precipitates were
        formed which caused some errors.
     The reagent concentration in each titration must be not less than ten times that of
the drug solution in order to minimize the dilution effect on the conductivity through the
titration. The optimum concentration of the reagent was 510 -3 M ammonium reineckate
in titration of the two studied drugs to achieve a constant and highly stable conductance
reading within 1-2 min of mixing. Concentrations less than these limits led to unstable
readings and more time was needed to obtain constant conductance values. On
increasing the temperature to 50C, no change in the conductance reading was observed,
whereas above which, the conductance value changed and so changed the shape of the
conductometric titration curve.
     Representative titration curves are shown in (Figure 5). Two straight lines are obtained,
intersecting at the end-point, the first branch ascending and the second has conductance
values would remain constant or slightly increase after the equivalence point. The increase
of conductance may be attributed to the formation of ion-pair in solution as a result of the
complexation reaction. After the end-point, the titration curves indicate a constant or slightly
increase value of conductance, despite the excess of the reagent. This may be due to further
ionic condensation, leading to species of lower mobility.
                                              Spectrophotometric Determination of Clomiphene Citrate     1075
Table 4. The intra-day accuracy and precision data for the studied drugs obtained by
conductometric method.
                         NFZ                                              CMP
 Taken          Found Recovery RSD             Er    Taken       Found Recovery RSD         Er
g mL-1        g mL-1   %      %              %    g mL-1     g mL-1   %      %          %
     63.3        63.62      100.50     0.46 0.50     60.02       59.96      99.90    0.43 -0.10
    126.6       126.09       99.60     0.53 -0.40    120.4       119.14     98.95    0.81 -1.05
    189.9       188.48       99.25     0.84 -0.75    180.06      179.16     99.50    0.70 -0.50
    253.2       251.35       99.27     0.90 -0.73    300.1       298.00     99.30    0.92 -0.70
    316.5       313.81       99.15     0.43 -0.85    420.14      419.72     99.90    0.52   -0.1
    443.1       442.21       99.80     0.72 -0.20    540.18      540.72     100.10   0.64   0.10
a
    Average value of six determinations.
Quantification
Calibration graphs with good linearity were obtained as recorded before. The linear
regression equations were also calculated. Correlation coefficient, intercept and slope values
for the calibration data calculated, detection limit was also evaluated and recorded in Table
1. The Validity of the proposed methods was assessed by its application to the determination
of the two drugs in their pharmaceutical preparations Tables 5-7. Student's t-test (at 95 %
confidence level) was applied to the results obtained compared with that obtained when
applying the official method for clomiphene citrate or reference one for nefazodone HCl, the
results showed that it didn't differ significantly and there are no systematic differences
between the proposed and official or reference methods. The results of different statistical
treatment of the data are shown in Table 8.
Table 5. Application of the proposed spectrophotometric method for the analysis of
clomiphene citrate drug in dosage form
                                               Claimed
                                                             Authentic added,   Recovery,
              Commercial product               amount,
                                                                 mg/mL             %
                                               mg/mL
                                                 0.28                ---         101.17
         Clomid tablets                          ---               0.2          100.79
         Each tablets contain 50 mg               ---               0.6          99.02
         clomiphene citrate per tablet            ---               0.8          101.12
                                                  ---               1.2          101.67
                    Mean*SD                                  100.651.14
                        N                                           4
                       SD                                         1.14
                      RSD                                         1.13
                        V                                         1.29
                       SE                                         0.57
            *Mean of three different experiments.
                            Spectrophotometric Determination of Clomiphene Citrate              1077
                                            Label claim,
                Commercial product                                Found, %
                                              mg/mL
                                               0.20                  100.30
                                               0.28                   99.61
                  Serzone tablets
                                               0.40                  101.35
                                               0.60                  100.70
                    MeanSD                             100.490.728
                       N                                      4
                      SD                                    0.728
                     RSD                                    0.725
                       V                                    0.529
                      SE                                    0.364
          *Mean  SD (mean of three different experiments)
          **
             Theoretical values for t and F-values at five degree of freedom.
Table 7. Application of the proposed conductometric method to the determination of the
studied drugs in dosage forms.
          Sample                Reported or official method               Conductometric method
Serzone Tablets (200 mg NFZ/tablet)
          X  SDa                      99.80  0.58                             99.70 0.58
          t-value b                                                                 0.27
         F-value b                                                                   1.0
Clomid Tablets (50 mg CMP/tablet)
          X  SDa                      99.67  0.64                             99.82  0.73
          t-value b                                                                 0.35
         F-value b                                                                  1.30
*Mean  SD (mean of three different experiments)
**
   Theoretical values for t and F-values at five degree of freedom and 95 % confidence limit.
Table 8. Determination of clomiphene citrate and nefazodone HCl through complexation
with ammonium reineckate using Spectrophotometric method compared with official and
reference one.
                Clomiphene citrate               Nefazodone HCl
   Statistics   Official Spectro-     Conduc-                 Spectro-     Conduc-
                                                 Reference
                method photometric tometric              13 photometric    tometric
                                                 Method
                           method      method                 method        method
   Mean*,p=0.05 99.56       99.60       99.95      99.10       99.61        100.26
         N         6          6           5          6            6            4
        V        0.57       0.32        0.45       0.304       0.452         0.32
        SD       0.81       0.552       0.673       0.74       0.761         0.57
     t-test **          1.56 (2.306) 0.12(2.306)            2.14 (2.262) 0.743(2.262)
     F-test **           1.80 (5.41) 1.69(5.41)             0.148 (5.19) 1.45(5.19)
*Mean  SD (mean of three different experiments)
**
   Theoretical values for t and F-values at five degree of freedom and 95 % confidence limit.
1078       W. S. HASSAN et al.
     IR spectra (Figure 6&7) show that complexation between clomiphene citrate and ammonium
reineckate (amonium tetra thiocyanate diamine chromate) took place through ion pairing to
produce clomiphene reineckate. IR chart of the resulting complex not only contain bands due to
the reineckate part such as 3314, 3237 cm-1 NHs and 2077 cm-1 SCN, but also enclose a band at
3442 NH of clomiphene. Moreover, The absence of C=O absorption band at 1731 cm-1 and the
broad OH absorption band at 3250-2500 cm-1 propose the absence of the citrate anion from the
complex. As a conclusion from the above data, the complex is ion pair where protonated
clomiphene replaces the ammonium cation of ammonium reineckate with a molar ration (1:1).
     In the same way, IR spectra were analyzed to verify the structure of the complex formed
between nefazodone HCl and ammonium reineckate. Again the complex is ion pairing
between protonated nefazadone and reineckate with a molar ration (1:1). The IR spectrum of
complex shows bands characteristic for functional groups of both parts of the salt, such as:
1. Presence of amidic C=O at 1678 cm-1 confirms the presence of nifazadone in the complex.
2. Presence of two bands at 3295, 3236 cm-1NHs, in addition to the very characteristic
     band at 2076 cm-1 SCN authenticates the presence of reineckate in the complex.
Figure 7. IR spectra of (a) ammonium reineckate, (d) Nefazodone HCl, and (e) Nefazodone
HCl and ammonium reineckate complex.
Accuracy and precision
In order to determine the accuracy and precision of the proposed method, solutions
containing six different concentrations of each drug were prepared and six replicate
determinations were carried out for the pure form and the pharmaceutical preparation of the
drugs under investigation. The analytical results obtained from this investigation are
summarized in Table 4. The relative standard deviation (RSD %) as precision and
percentage relative error (Er %) as accuracy of the suggested method was calculated. The
percentage relative error calculated using the following equation:
                         Er % = [(found  added) / added]  100
    The intra-day precision and accuracy results are shown in Table 4. These results of
accuracy and precision show that the proposed method have good repeatability and
reproducibility.
1080     W. S. HASSAN et al.
Conclusions
The proposed methods have the advantages of being simple, rapid, accurate, highly
reproducible and time saving, thereby encouraging its applications in quality control of these
drugs in their pure form and in pharmaceutical preparations; conductometric method has the
advantage over the spectrophotometric one of being more sensitive.
References
1.     Hewala I I, Analytical Letters, 1993, 26, 625.
2.     Rao Mallikarjuna G P V, Devi A P, Krisna Prasad K M M and Sastry C S P, Indian
       Drugs, 2002, 39, 395.
3.     Rao Malikarjuna G P V,Aruna Devi P, Krishna Prasad K M M and Sastry C S P, J
       Ind Chem Soc., 2002, 79, 848.
4      Kim S B, Ozawa T and Umezawa Y, Anal Sci., 2003, 19, 49.
5.     Uromos I, Benko S M and Klebovich, J Chromatogr., 1993, 617,168.
6.     Hage D S and Sengupta A, Anal Chem., 1998, 70, 4602.
7.     Sengupta A. and Hage D S, ibid., 1999, 71,3821.
8.     Yue Z, Wu J and Zhang Q, Yaowu-Fenxi-Zazhi, 2006, 26(12), 1712.
9.     Bempong D K and Honigberg I L, J. Pharm Biomed Anal., 1996, 15, 233.
10.    Hosny M M and Elsaid H M, Alex J Pharm Sci., 2007, 21(1), 25.
11.    Hays P A, J Forensic Sci., 2005, 50(6), 1342.
12.    Jacob Jules S, Moslemy P, Nagia A, Zeev S and Kreitz M, Sphericinc. Patent
       Cooperation on Treaty Application, 2006.
13.    Erk N, Farmaco, 2003, 58, 1209.
14.    Usluand B and Ozkan S A, Anal Chim Acta, 2002, 462(1), 49.
15     Franc J E, Duncan G F, Farmen R H and Pittman K A, J. Chromatogr Biomed Sci
       Appl., 1991, 570, 129.
16.    Rao S, Geetha, Srinivasu M K and Reddy G O, J. Pharm Biomed Anal., 2001, 26, 629.
17.    Rao R N and Nagaraju V, J. Pharm Biomed.Anal., 2003, 33(3), 335.
18.    Jemal M, Ouyang Z, Zhao W P, Zhu M S and Wu W W, Rapid Commun Mass
       Spectrum., 2003, 17(24), 2732.
19.    Leuthold L A, Mandscheff J F, Fathi M, Giroud C, Augsburger M, Varesio E and
       Hopfgartner G, Rapid Commun Mass Spectrum., 2005, 20(2), 103.
20.    Tarasiewicz M and Kuzmicka L, Pharmazie, 1996, 51(3),189.
21.    Murillo-Pulgarin J A, Alanon A and Fernandez P, Anal Chim Acta, 1998, 370(1), 9.
22.    Lingane J J, Electroanalytical Chemistry, 2nd Ed., Interscience, New York, 1958, 90.
23.    Incezdy J, Analytical Application of Complex Equilibiria, Ellis Horwood Ltd.,
       England, 1976, 137.
24.    Miller J C and Miller J N, Statistics in analytical Chemistry, 3rd Ed., Ellis Horwood,
       Chichester, UK, 1993.
                                                                                              Photoenergy
                                                                                                          International Journal of
International Journal of                       Organic Chemistry                                                                                   International Journal of                       Advances in
Medicinal Chemistry
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                                               International
                                               Hindawi Publishing Corporation                 Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                                                                                                                                                   Analytical Chemistry
                                                                                                                                                   Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Physical Chemistry
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014   http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014   http://www.hindawi.com                 Volume 2014   http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014   http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014
International Journal of
Carbohydrate                                                                                                                                                                                      Journal of
Chemistry
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Quantum Chemistry
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014                                                                                                                                                      http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Journal of
The Scientific                                                                                                                                                                                    Analytical Methods
World Journal
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                                                                                                                                                                                                  in Chemistry
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Hindawi Publishing Corporation
http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014                                                                                                                                                      http://www.hindawi.com           Volume 2014