GLC Determination of Methenamine in Tablets

A rapid and sensitive GLC method was developed for the quantitative determination of methenamine in tablets. The method was shown to possess several advantages over the official NF assay. After dissolution of the whole tablet in absolute ethanol and addition of an internal standard (pentylenetetrazol), an aliquot was injected into the gas chromatograph for analysis. The sample was chromatographed using a stainless steel column packed with 10% OV-17 on Chromosorb W-HP. Quantitation was achieved by measuring peak heights. The simplicity, directness, extreme rapidity, and accuracy of the method represent an improvement over the official method and the other proposed assays.