Solid phase extraction and high-performance thin-layer chromatography quantification of some antibiotics from surface waters

Abstract

Summary Excessive use of antibiotics leads to their occurrence into the environment. In spite of their benefit properties and desired effects during the therapeutic applications, the same properties can be disadvantageous for the environment having negative influences over the plants and microorganisms and the potential risks for human health. Regarding the monitoring of antibiotics and their subsequent elimination from environment, it is necessary to develop analytical procedures for their determination. In the present study, the quantitative determination of seven antibiotics belonging to three different classes is reported: tetracyclines (tetracycline and doxycycline), cephalosporins (ceftazidime and ceftriaxone), and penicillins (amoxicillin, ampicillin, and penicillin G) from surface waters. The proposed procedure consists of the solid phase extraction (SPE) of studied antibiotics from river water samples, their separation by high-perfomance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), and quantification by UV densitometry. The antibiotics were extracted from water matrices using hydrophilic–lipophilic-balanced Oasis HLB cartridges. The cartridge efficiency of the SPE method was checked by recovery experiments and evaluated by HPTLC. The chromatographic separation was performed on pre-coated Alugram SIL G/UV254 plates with ethyl acetate–methanol–acetone–water 5:2.5: 2.5:1.5 (v/v) mobile phase. The bands were detected and quantified at 254 nm by densitometry. For method validation, studies of selectivity, linearity, limits of detection and quantification, and precision and accuracy were achieved. The proposed procedure was applied to the determination of studied antibiotics on surface water samples collected from Someoul Mic River (Romania).