The zero-crossing derivative spectra method is the most common procedure for the simultaneous determination of binary mixtures of their overlapping spectra. As an example, the derivative spectra of binary mixtures of phospho-and silicomolybdenum blue are illustrated in Fig. 1. 23 By measuring the derivative values (heights h1 in Fig. 1) for mixtures of phosphate and silicate at 806 nm (zero-crossing wavelength of silicomolybdate complex), one can avoid the interference by silicate and the phosphate concentration can be determined. By measuring the derivative values (heights h2 in Fig. 1 Moreover, one disadvantage of the zero-crossing method is the necessity of selecting critical wavelengths for the measurements. This selection causes considerable loss of sensitivity and precision in case of binary mixtures. The so-called "ratio spectra derivative" permits the use of the wavelengths corresponding to maximum or minimum and also the use of the distance between consecutive maximum and minimum, thus avoiding these problems. 24 Salinas et al. 25 developed a derivative quotient spectra method with a standard divisor when the spectra of the components are overlapped. The method was based on dividing the spectrum for a mixture into the standard spectra for each of the analyses and driving the quotient to obtain a spectrum that is independent of the analyte concentration used as a divisor. The use of standardized spectra as divisors minimizes experimental errors and background noise. 26 An accurate choice of standard divisors and working wavelengths is fundamental for several reasons. 25,27,28 Easy measurements on separate peaks, higher values of the analytical signals and no need to work only at zero-crossing points (sometimes co-existing compounds have no maximum or minimum at these wavelengths) are advantages for ratio spectra derivative spectrophotometry in comparison with the zerocrossing derivative spectrophotometry. Also, the presence of a lot of maxima and minima in ratio spectra derivative data was another advantage, since these wavelengths give an opportunity for the determination of these compounds in the presence of other active compounds and excipients that possibly interfered with the assay. 29
2·1 Resolution of binary and ternary mixtures by applyingderivative ratio spectra (derivative quotient spectra) The absorption spectrum of a mixture of three compounds; A, B and C is determined by this equation:AM,λ i = εA,λ i CA + εB,λ i CB + εC,λ i CC (path-length is 1 cm)where, AM,λ i is the absorbance value of the mixture at wavelength λi, εA,λ i , εB,λ i and εC,λ i are the molar absorptivities of A, B and C at λi, CA, CP and CC are the molar concentrations of A, B and C, respectively. When we divide this spectrum by the spectrum of a standard solution of one of the components (e.g., A of concentration CA). That is bywe obtainThe first derivative of this spectrum ratio givesIf CC = 0, we have the binary mixture of A and B, and the spectrum in this case is:In Eq. (5) we can see that the derivative ratio spectrum of...