Add 2.10 g of sodium bicarbonate through a dry powder funnel to prevent the powder from coming in contact with the mouth of the separator, and swirl to dissolve most of the solid. By means of a syringe fitted with a suitable pipet, rapidly inject 1.0 mL of acetic anhydride directly into the contents of the separator. Swirl the unstoppered separator gently for 3 minutes to allow carbon dioxide to escape. Insert the stopper, and shake gently until the evolution of carbon dioxide has ceased (7 to 10 minutes), releasing the pressure through the stopcock as necessary. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. Extract with six 25-mL portions of chloroform, shaking for 1 minute each time, filtering each extract through a small pledget of chloroform-saturated cotton and collecting the extracts in a 400-mL beaker. Add several glass beads, and evaporate on a steam bath to about 3 mL. With the aid of 15 to 20 mL of chloroform, transfer the residue to a tared 50-mL beaker, and evaporate on the steam bath to dryness. Dry the residue at 105 for 30 minutes, cool in a desiccator, and weigh the triacetylepinephrine so obtained. Transfer 10.0 mL of chloroform to the beaker, and gently swirl to dissolve the residue, dislodging the semisolid residue from the glass surface, if necessary, with a small metal spatula. Determine the angular rotation of the solution in a 100-mm polarimeter tube.

Calculate the quantity, in mg, of epinephrine (C9H13NO3) in the volume of Ophthalmic Solution taken by the formula:

in which 183.20 and 309.32 are the molecular weights of epinephrine and triacetylepinephrine, respectively; W is the weight, in mg, of the isolated triacetylepinephrine; and R is the specific rotation, in degrees, of the triacetylepinephrine solution.