Packaging and storage—
Preserve in collapsible ophthalmic ointment tubes.
Identification—
A:
Dissolve a quantity of Ophthalmic Ointment, equivalent to about 1 g of sulfacetamide sodium, in 100 mL of ether in a separator, and extract the mixture with 25 mL of water. Wash the extract with 25 mL of ether, and warm the water extract on a steam bath to remove the last traces of ether. Adjust with 6 N acetic acid to a pH of between 4 and 5, and filter. Wash the precipitate with water, and dry at 105

for 2 hours: the sulfacetamide so obtained melts between 180

and 184

, and responds to
Identification tests
B,
D, and
E under
Sulfacetamide Sodium.
B:
To a quantity of Ophthalmic Ointment, equivalent to about 25 mg of prednisolone acetate, add 15 mL of water, extract with two 10-mL portions of peroxide-free ether, discard the ether extracts, and extract with two 10-mL portions of chloroform. Evaporate the combined, clear chloroform extracts, with the aid of a current of air, to dryness: the residue so obtained responds to
Identification test
A under
Prednisolone Acetate.
Sterility
71
—
It meets the requirements when tested as directed for
Membrane Filtration under
Test for Sterility of the Product to be Examined.
Assay for sulfacetamide sodium—
Weigh accurately a quantity of Ophthalmic Ointment, equivalent to about 500 mg of sulfacetamide sodium, and transfer to a 125-mL separator. Dissolve the ointment in 50 mL of ether, and extract the mixture with six 25-mL portions of water. Warm the combined extracts on a steam bath to remove the last traces of ether, add 20 mL of hydrochloric acid, and proceed as directed under
Nitrite Titration
451
, beginning with “cool to 15

.” Each mL of 0.1
M sodium nitrite is equivalent to 25.42 mg of C
8H
9N
2NaO
3S·H
2O.
Assay for prednisolone acetate—
Assay preparation—
Transfer to a suitable flask an accurately weighed quantity of Ophthalmic Ointment, equivalent to about 10 mg of prednisolone acetate, and add 30 mL of alcohol. Heat on a steam bath to melt the ointment base, and mix. Cool to solidify the ointment base, and filter the alcohol solution into a 100-mL volumetric flask. Repeat the extraction with three 20-mL portions of alcohol, add alcohol to volume, and mix. Pipet 10 mL of this solution into a 100-mL volumetric flask, add alcohol to volume, and mix. Pipet 20 mL of the resulting solution into a glass-stoppered, 50-mL conical flask.
Procedure—
Proceed as directed for
Procedure under
Assay for Steroids
351
. Calculate the quantity, in mg, of C
23H
30O
6 in the portion of Ophthalmic Ointment taken by the formula:
C(AU / AS).