Kinetic studies of nitrofurazone photodegradation by Multivariate Curve Resolution methods applied to UV-spectral data

Light has been recognized as one of the most important external factors in drug instability and the knowledge of drug photo-reactivity is essential for a correct pharmaceutical formulation and its packaging1. The proposed work aims at describing the kinetic model of nitrofurazone photodegradation by a novel chemometric method, hybrid hard- and soft- multivariate curve resolution (MCR)2. The method has been applied on UV spectral data from the drug exposed under various experimental conditions, characterized by different light power and concentration levels. MCR of the collected spectral data was demonstrated able to clarify kinetic mechanism of the phodegradation process of nitrofurazone, allowing to obtain the pure spectra of the degradation compounds and to determine the degradation rate constants. 1. G. Ragno, A. Risoli, G. Ioele, E. Cione, M. De Luca, J. Nanosc. Nanotech. 2006, 6, 2979-2985 2. A.de Juan, R.Tauler, Crit. Rev. Anal. Chem. 2006, 36, 163-176.