Detection, Quantitation, and Identification of Residual Aminopenicillins by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography after Fluorescamine Derivation

Abstract

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with fluorescence detection after precolumn fluorescamine derivation was developed to detect residues of two aminopenicillins, amoxicillin (AMPC) and ampicillin (ABPC), in bovine serum. Proteins in serum samples spiked with each of these penicillins were precipitated with sodium tungstate and sulfuric acid, centrifuged, and removed by passage through a C18 solid-phase extraction cartridge. After precolumn treatment of the extraction products of AMPC and ABPC with fluorescamine solution, HPLC analysis with fluorescence spectrophotometric detection at an excitation wavelength of 390nm and an emission wavelength of 485nm was performed to identify these products. Two mobile phases were used for residual analysis by the isocratic HPLC system. An ODP column (polyvinyl alcohol bonded with an octadecyl functional group) that can be used with strongly alkaline mobile phases (pH 2.0 to 13) was selected, and the column temperature was set at 40°C. A mobile phase comprising 100-mM K2HPO4 solution and acetonitrile (72:28, vol/vol), which yielded AMPC and ABPC retention times of 4.1 and 7.9 min, respectively, was suitable for detection of residual ABPC but not for residual AMPC because interference was caused by peaks of other extracted substances. When a mobile phase comprising a different ratio of 100-mM K2HPO4 solution and acetonitrile (78:22, vol/vol) was used, the retention times of AMPC and ABPC were 7.3 and 26.3 min, respectively, and both penicillins could be analyzed using this system. The calculated standard curves of the reaction products with both mobile phases were linear, and the correlation coefficients were greater than 0.999. The lower limit of detection was 10 ng/ml for both penicillins. Analysis of extracts from bovine serum spiked with AMPC and ABPC at a concentration of 1 μg/ml yielded recovery rates of 102.2 ± 5.5% and 79.0 ± 5.2%, respectively. This detection method may be useful for routine laboratory testing of AMPC and ABPC.