Hydrolysis of Phytic Acid by Microwave Treatment: Application to Phytic Acid Analysis in Pharmaceutical Preparations

Abstract The acid hydrolysis of phytic acid in a Teflon reactor using a domestic microwave oven has been studied and compared with other reported procedures. In 0.44 M HCl quantitative hydrolysis was achieved with six heating stages of 2 min each. A lower yield was obtained with H 2 SO 4 and HNO 3 . The analytical use of this hydrolysis to determine phytic acid by indirect determination of phosphate has been demonstrated by analysis of three pharmaceutical formulations. No sample pretreatment other than obtaining a homogeneous suspension was necessary.