Study the Effect of Storage Conditions on the Physicochemical Properties of Pharmaceutical Iron Supplements

Abstract

Iron is commonly used to treat anemia and is prescribed or sold as an over-the-counter drug and as a food supplement in public pharmacies. The iron supplements in the Libyan pharmacies were analyzed for their iron content. Six samples of different pharmaceutical dosage forms were collected from Alkhums city. In the current study, the actual iron content was determined using the spectrophotometric technique for the determination of iron in supplement samples, namely Ferrous Sulphate (Tablets in a package), Hihaem (capsule), Ferrous Sulphate (Tablets in an envelope), VELVET (Tablets in an envelope), Ferrum, and OPTiFer (liquid) samples. The proposed method is based on the reaction of iron Fe ⁺² with 1-10 phenanthroline as chromogenic reagent. The effect of storage at room temperature on the concentration of iron, PH values, and electrical conductivity (EC) of the iron supplement samples has been investigated.  The absorbance of the standard solutions and the samples was measured at 510nm. The calibration curve was plotted in the concentration range of 1-6ppm. A linear relationship was obtained with the equation y=0.1772+0.0025 , and a correlation coefficient R²=0.993. The suggested method is simple, sensitive, fast, and can be used for the determination of iron in iron supplement drugs.