Recent Advances and Future Perspectives in Volumetric Analysis

In recent years, analytical methods and their validations have played an important role in the quantification of drugs from their dosage forms or biological samples. The development of various analytical methods with others is very useful for the investigation of the behaviour of drugs or metabolites or impurities and is also a useful tool for sensitive detections. In the 18th century, volumetric analysis, also known as titrimetry, was developed as a control method for determining potash, sulfuric acid, and, later, hypochlorite, all solutions used in textile bleaching in the textile industry. The first methods developed were for practical purposes, to control the ‘goodness’ (in French, titer) of solutions rather than to determine accurate concentrations. Volumetric analysis is a quantitative analysis used to determine the concentrations of unknown substances. A reaction occurs when the titrant (known solution) is applied to an unknown quantity of analyte (unknown solution) and the concentration of the unknown substance is calculated by knowing the volume of the titrant. Automated titration equipment is used in medical laboratories and hospitals for the same purpose. Apart from these, the process is commonly used in analytical laboratories, as well as the pharmaceutical, food, and petrochemical industries. It is used to calculate the acidity of a sample of vegetable oil in the biodiesel industry. Volumetric analysis has also been used in space science to assess the existence of volatile. Titrimetry is one of the oldest analytical techniques, and it is still commonly used due to its high precision, accuracy, ease of use, and low cost. Titration is therefore seen as a very basic and effective technique that can be used in a number of chemical analysis applications. This chapter describes the development of large-scale industry, recent roles of titrimetry, its applications and future perspectives.