Measurement of chloramphenicol by capillary zone electrophoresis following end-column amperometric detection at a carbon fiber micro-disk array electrode

Capillary zone electrophoresis was employed for the measurement of chloramphenicol using end-column amperometric detection with a carbon fiber micro-disk array electrode, at a constant potential of -1.00 V vs. saturated calomel electrode. The effect of oxygen in the buffer has been investigated. It is found that when the area of the carbon fiber electrode is smaller than 1.1 mm2, the interference of oxygen can be overcome. In this procedure deoxygenation is not necessary. The effect of pH, the concentration of the buffer and the high separation voltage across the capillary on the migration time, electrophoretic peak current and separation efficiency has been studied. The optimum conditions of separation and detection are 8.4x10(-4) mol/l HOAc-3.2x10(-3) mol/l NaOAc for the buffer solution, 20 kV for the separation voltage, 5 kV and 5 s for the injection voltage and the injection time, respectively. The calibration plot was found to be linear in the range 5x10(-6) to 1x10(-3) mol/l and the limit of detection is 9.1x10(-7) mol/l or 1.4 fmol (S/N=2). The relative standard deviation is 1.1% for the migration time and 2.3% for the electrophoretic peak current. The method was applied to the determination of chloramphenicol in human serum.

High-performance liquid chromatography of antibiotics

High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) monitoring of antimicrobial agents has recently become more widely used, and represents an interesting alternative to other methods. The methodology is characterized by good specificity and accuracy, and it is applicable to almost all antibiotics. This review first describes the successive steps to investigate for the development of an HPLC method for a new antibiotic, and how to make use of it. Particular emphasis is put on the problems related to the standardization of sample preparation and to the development of mobile phases for use with different molecules belonging to the same class. The second part of the review describes one or more HPLC techniques for a representative antibiotic of each major class.