Are The Drug Manufacturers Telling The Truth? Mary Kathryn Hardison

Objectives The purpose of our experiment was to find out if the label on the aspirin bottle telling how many milligrams were in one tablet were actually correct Why is this important? Drug companies are allowed not less than 90.0 percent and not more than percent on the labled amount of aspirin

Objectives (cont) To study degradation of aspirin in water To see the effect of temperature on aspirin

Hydrolysis of Aspirin + Acetyl salicylic acid MW = Salicylic acid Acetic acid

What is an HPLC? HPLC uses high pressure to force mobile phase (MP) through closed column containing stationary phase (SP, fine particles) to give high-resolution separations MP – the solvent moving through the column SP – fine particles on the support that stay in place inside the column High Pressure/Performance Liquid Chromatography

What We Had to Do to Get Started First we had to make up our mobile phase Then we had to do our standard curves for our samples Now it is show time

SA Calibration Curve

Aspirin Calibration Curve

Show Time! To begin I had to weigh out each tablet Then I ground up 5 pills and weighed out the powder to the amount of one tablet Next I made up my solution and put the solution into vials then into the HPLC

Our Results

Our Results (cont)

What We Found BrandLabel mgAnal mg% Diff. BC Green GS Coated Bayer G.S Ecotrin Anacin

Why Is This Helpful to You? The results of this experiment are helpful to you because now you know which brand of aspirin really gives you the correct amount If the aspirin has more Salicylic acid than it is supposed to have the Aspirin will not meet the expiration date on the bottle

Summary Through this experience I have learned –how to operate an analytical instrument such as HPLC –preparation of standard solutions –how to analyze chemicals –Now I Know that the samples have close to what they are supposed to have –Water and temperature affect the degradation of aspirin

Any Questions??