UV-Vis Spectroscopy – The Everyday Hero of Pharma Analysis
In pharmaceutical science, UV-Vis Spectroscopy is often the first-choice technique for drug testing because it’s simple, cost-effective, and fast.
Principle: Based on Beer-Lambert’s Law – absorbance is directly proportional to concentration.
Wavelength Range: 200–400 nm (UV region), 400–800 nm (visible region).
Applications in Pharma:
Quantification of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)
Purity checks & dissolution studies
Stability & degradation analysis
Impurity detection in raw materials
Content uniformity for tablets/capsules
Protein quantification in biologics (e.g., monoclonal antibodies)
Advantages: Quick, reliable, non-destructive, minimal sample prep
Limitations: Less selective; spectral overlap or excipients may interfere
Fun fact: Many antibiotics, proteins, and nucleic acids absorb strongly at 260–280 nm, making this range especially popular in pharma analysis!
Question for you: When developing a UV method, what’s been your biggest challenge — sample preparation or interference from excipients?
MBH/PS