Comparison of three different phosphorescent methodologies in solution for the analysis of naphazoline in pharmaceutical preparations

We present results from a comparative study of three proposed phosphorimetric methods for determination of naphazoline (NPZ) in solution. The first method is based on use of micelles to stabilize phosphorescence signals in solutions at room temperature (MS-RTP). The second is based on the use of a heavy atom salt and sodium sulfite as an oxygen scavenger to obtain room-temperature phosphorescence (HAI-RTP) in solution. The last method employs an optical sensor for NPZ based on the phosphorescent properties of the analyte on a solid sensor phase. The aim of this work was to compare time consumption, simplicity, sensitivity, selectivity, detection, and quantification limits for use of these three phosphorimetric methods to determine naphazoline in pharmaceutical preparations. The most simple, sensitive, and reproducible of the three methods for naphazoline analysis is the HAI-RTP method. Detection limits are 4.9, 1.7, and 9.4 ng mL(-1), respectively, for the MS-RTP, HAI-RTP, and optosensor methods.