Solid-phase UV spectroscopic multisensor for the simultaneous determination of caffeine, dimenhydrinate and acetaminophen by using partial least squares multicalibration

A straightforward flow-through multisensor was developed for the fast simultaneous determination of caffeine (CF), dimenhydrinate (DMH) and acetaminophen (AAP) based on the integration of their retention and UV detection. A diode array spectrophotometer was used to monitor the inherent UV full-spectra in the range 245-310 nm of the analytes retained on C-18 bonded phase beads packed in a flow cell, without requiring additional reagents or derivatization processes. The extensively overlapped spectra of the analytes retained on the solid support could be resolved by partial least squares (PLS) regression. After collecting the response of the multisensor, its active microzone was regenerated by using methanol as the eluting agent, leaving it ready for the next determination. The proposed multisensor has been satisfactorily applied for the analysis of synthetic and real samples with different nominal contents of these active principles. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.