Determination of Sulfamethoxazole Adulterated in Traditional Chinese Medicine

YOE-RAY KU, MING-JER TSAI AND KUO-CHING WEN

National Laboratories of Foods and Drugs, Department of Health, Executive Yuan

ABSTRACT

   In this study, three kinds of traditional Chinese medicine obtained from a traditional Chinese physician's clinic for curing herpes were analyzed. Each kind of medicine was dispensed for use after breakfast, lunch and dinner. For each meal, 11, 11 and 12 doses were collected, respectively. The weight distribution ranges and their coefficient of variation among doses of each kind medicine were 2.822-4.420g, 13.2%, 2.808-3.782g, 9.2% and 2.654-3.723g, 9.2%, respectively. Sulfamethoxazole was detected in the doses dispensed for breakfast and lunch but not found in the dose for dinner. Sulfamethoxazole in the samples were assayed by high performance liquid chromatography on C18 column. The linear calibration range was 0.1-0.8 mg/ml (r=0.9999) and recovery was 93.9-97.0%. The relative standard deviations for intraday and interday analysis were 1.2% and 0. 2% (n=5), respectively. The average content of sulfamethoxazole in the dose for breakfast and lunch were 395 mg and 345 mg, respectively.

Key Words:HPLC, traditional Chinese medicine, sulfamethoxazole, adulterant