PREPARATION OF SURGICAL SPIRIT BP

(Methyl salicylate 0.5% v/v)

Production Department

Prepare 1 Litre Surgical Spirit BP

i. Put 55 ml of Technical Spirit (98%) in 5 L measuring cylinder then 25 ml of

Castor oil was added and stirring for 5 minutes.
ii. 5 ml of Methyl salicylate was added to the mixture above slowly while stirring
constant.
iii. Make up the volume to 1000 ml with Technical spirit and stir the solution to
homogeneity for 5 minutes.
iv. Send 200 ml of sample to the Quality Control lab for analysis.

Quality Control Lab

CHARACTERISTICS

Appearance

It is clear colourless solution

Solubility

It is soluble in water and oil.

pH

Weight per ml

Alcohol content

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Assay

For Methyl salicylate

Dilute 5 ml to 100 ml with ethanol, further dilute 10 ml of this solution to 100

ml with ethanol and measure the absorbance of the resulting solution at the
maximum at 306 nm, using 1 cm cell.

Calculate the content of methyl salicylate (%v/v)

𝐴 ∗ 100 ∗ 100 ∗ 100

=
335 ∗ 5 ∗ 10 ∗ 100

Where A is absorbance

Specific range (0.45 to 0.55% v/v)

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