Spectrometric Smartphone-Based System for Ibuprofen Quantification in Commercial Dosage Tablets

A rapid and portable analytical methodology has been developed for ibuprofen (IBU) quantification in commercial dosage tablets using a spectrometric smartphone-based system. The analytical methodology employs point-of-use approaches both for sample preparation and detection, demonstrating its potential utility for portable quality control of pharmaceutical products. In this work, IBU is dissolved in methanol and then treated with a Co(II) aqueous solution, forming a blue complex which is extractable by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction. Then, the sample's absorption spectrum is directly measured by a spectrometric smartphone-based system using cartridge made of polyoxymethylene for solvent compatibility. The main experimental factors affecting the dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction of Co-IBU complex were optimized using a multivariate analysis. Under optimized conditions, a working range between 20 and 80 μg mL⁻¹ was obtained with a correlation coefficient of 0.996 for 5 calibration points. The limit of detection and limit of quantification obtained were 4 and 12 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The performance of the proposed methodology was evaluated in commercial tablet dosage forms, and the results demonstrate the ability of the method to determine IBU in samples representative of those used in real-world quality control applications. Recovery values between 97% and 105% were obtained, which are comparable to those obtained via standard titrimetric methodology.