Ali Abdollahi
1, Ahad Bavili-Tabrizi
2*1 Drug Applied Research Center and Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Biotechnology Research Center and Faculty of Pharmacy , Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Background: Cephalosporins are among the safest and the most
effective broad-spectrum bactericidal antimicrobial agents which have been
prescribed by the clinician as antibiotics. Thus, the developing of simple, sensitive and rapid
analytical methods for their determination can be attractive and desirable.
Methods: A
simple, rapid and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the
determination of cefixime, cefalexin and ceftriaxone in pharmaceutical
formulations. Proposed method is based on the oxidation of these cephalosporins
with cerium (IV) to produce cerium (III), and its fluorescence was monitored at
356 ± 3 nm after excitation at 254 ± 3 nm.
Results: The
variables effecting oxidation of each cephalosporin with cerum (IV) were
studied and optimized. Under the experimental conditions used, the calibration
graphs were linear over the range 0.1-4 µg/mL. The limit of detection and limit
of quantification were in the range 0.031-0.054 and 0.102-0.172 µg/mL,
respectively. Intra- and inter-day assay precisions, expressed as the relative
standard deviation (RSD), were lower than 5.6 and 6.8%, respectively.
Conclusion: The
proposed method was applied to the determination of studied cephalosporins in
pharmaceutical formulations by good recoveries in the range 91-110%.