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).