New Stainless Steel Version of Metrohm 844 UV/VIS Compact IC Used to Assay Caffeine in Over-the-counter Tablets

Metrohm has launched a new version of the 844 UV/VIS Compact Ion Chromatograph in stainless steel complete with a column oven. The new device is especially suited as an alternative low-cost and simplified way of assaying many pharmaceutical or food/beverage-based products using photometric detection.
One such application is the analysis of caffeine in over-the-counter
tablets. It can be performed isocratically simply using a phosphate/methanol mobile phase. Analysis of tablets is relatively simple; one tablet is dissolved in a known quantity of ultrapure water and run against a previously recorded caffeine calibration curve. The caffeine is detected on the ProntoSil C18 column in less than 6 minutes at a wavelength of 280 nm using the IC Net controlling software.