There are several uses for salicylate and it is included in
many everyday products. Salicylic acid is the major metabolite
of aspirin and is commonly found in medications that treat
acne, warts, and other similar ailments. Owing to the many
medical applications of salicylic acid, a number of methods
for its quantitation have been developed, including titration
(6), gas–liquid chromatography (7), ultraviolet spectroscopy
(8), and fluorescence spectroscopy (9, 10). The most widely
used method in clinical laboratories, however, employs visible
spectrophotometry where excess iron(III) is added in an acidic
solution to form a highly colored species (11).