Acriflavine: an efficient green fluorescent probe for sensitive analysis of aceclofenac in pharmaceutical formulations

Acriflavine is a multipurpose drug that shows antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial, and antifungal activities. The remarkable native fluorescence of acriflavine is exploited in analytical chemistry field as an efficient probe for analysis of pharmaceutical and biological compounds. The fluorescent probe action of acriflavine is based on the remarkable fluorescence turning-off via formation of ion-pair complexes with acidic drugs at a specific pH. Herein, the acidic drug aceclofenac is analysed for the first time using acriflavine as a fluorescent probe. Aceclofenac can form an ion-pair complex with acriflavine at pH 8.5, and hence it partially turns off the fluorescence intensity of acriflavine over a concentration range of 1-20 & mu;g/mL. The fluorescence quenching was monitored at 502 nm following an excitation at 265 or 451 nm. The reaction stoichiometry between acriflavine and aceclofenac was found to be 1:1 using limiting logarithmic method. The type of quenching was confirmed to be static using Stern-Volmer plot. The method showed low values of quantitation limit (0.89 & mu;g/mL) and detection limit (0.29 & mu;g/mL). Moreover, the method was linear (r = 0.9999), accurate, precise (RSD < 1.7%), robust, and specific. The proposed method was successfully employed to analyse aceclofenac in its dosage forms with high %recovery (98-101%). Additionally, GAPI and AGREE approaches were used to guarantee the suggested techniques' greenness, and the findings showed an excellent level of greenness.

Automated summary

Acriflavine is a versatile drug with antibacterial, antiviral, antimalarial, and antifungal activities. Its native fluorescence is exploited as a probe for pharmaceutical and biological compound analysis. In this study, acriflavine was used as a fluorescent probe for the first time to analyze the acidic drug aceclofenac. Aceclofenac forms an ion-pair complex with acriflavine at pH 8.5, resulting in partial fluorescence quenching. The proposed method showed excellent greenness and was successfully used for the analysis of aceclofenac in its dosage forms.