Pharmaceutical Analysis: A Textbook for Pharmacy Students and Pharmaceutical Chemists

Abstract

Pharmaceutical analysis continues to be shaped by extraordinary technological advances. As a result, today's students in the pharmaceutical sciences are faced with the challenge of keeping pace with rapidly evolving methodology while mastering fundamental concepts in analytical chemistry. The textbook Pharmaceutical Analysis: A Textbook for Pharmacy Students and Pharmaceutical Chemists (2nd edition) helps students meet this challenge by striking a fine balance between theory and application. The textbook begins with a chapter on the quality control of analytical methods and the correct reporting of data. The next chapter is focused on the physico-chemical properties of drug molecules, including acid-base equilibria, partitioning, kinetics of degradation, and stereochemistry. Chapter 3 provides a thorough description of titrimetric methods (eg, acid-base, argentimetric, iodometric, and REDOX titrations), with emphasis on how these methods are applied to pharmacopoeial assays of drugs and excipients. Chapters 4 through 9 discuss a wide range of spectral techniques: spectrophotometry (ultraviolet/visible, infrared, atomic emission/absorption, fluorescence), Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. Chapters 10 through 15 provide an exhaustive treatment of separation methods, including chromatography (GC, HPLC, TLC), capillary electrophoresis, and extraction. The organization of topics in Pharmaceutical Analysis is logical. For example, absorbance phenomena are grouped together before fluorescence-based approaches, and a section on general separation theory precedes chapters on specific chromatographic methods. Each chapter begins with an outline of topics to be covered and “keypoints,” including applications, strengths, and weaknesses of the analytical techniques. A list of references, further reading, and relevant web sites is provided at the end of each chapter. The author uses a remarkable number of specific, drug-related examples to demonstrate the power of each method as an analytical tool in the pharmaceutical sciences. The text is also well illustrated with chemical structures, diagrams of instrumentation, and plots of analytical data. Reasonably challenging problem sets in each chapter (provided with answers) enable students to fine tune their mathematical and problem-solving skills. Pharmaceutical Analysis is exceptional because it emphasizes applications relevant to the pharmaceutical sciences. Students who read this textbook will become very familiar with the impact of analytical chemistry on drug identification, quantification, and separation. An important strength of this book is that it skillfully achieves a compromise between theory and application. Chemical and physical principles are presented with an appropriate level of sophistication, allowing the reader to grasp theoretical underpinnings of the analytical methods without being overwhelmed by excessive detail. At the same time, practical issues relating to instrument design or data analysis are addressed in sufficient detail so that students understand how specific approaches are used to solve real problems in the pharmaceutical sciences. Pharmaceutical Analysis also has limitations, some of which may reflect space constraints. For example, unlike other analytical chemistry references, there is very little content relating to electrochemical analyses. There is also no discussion of clinically relevant analytical devices, as might seem appropriate for a textbook aimed at pharmacy students. In addition, tables of physical and chemical constants are not included, and some sections would benefit from additional self-test exercises. For these reasons, students and instructors may occasionally find it necessary to supplement this book with additional references. Perhaps the most significant weakness is the presence of several errors and typos throughout the textbook. On balance, Pharmaceutical Analysis is an impressive textbook that stands out because of its balance of theory and application and its emphasis on pharmacy-related examples. This book will be a very useful resource for undergraduate or introductory-level graduate students taking courses in pharmaceutical analysis. Instructors of these courses should certainly consider adding this textbook to their library.