Adsorptive stripping voltammetry of selected cephalosporin antibiotics and their direct determination in urine

Accumulation of selected cephalosporin antibiotics cefazolin, cefotaxime, cefuroxime and ceftriaxone on hanging mercury drop electrode was studied. The effects of supporting electrolyte composition, pH, accumulation potential and time were examined and corresponding analytical parameters were established employing linear sweep (staircase) or differential pulse voltammetric detection. Britton-Robinson buffer of pH 4.0 for ceftriaxone and acetate buffer in the pH range 3.6–5.0 for the other three compounds were found to be the best media. Calibration curves were linear from micromolar down to nanomolar range with limits of detection 2 × 10^–9 moll^–1, 1 × 10^–9 moll^–1, 5 × 10^–10 moll^–1 and 5 × 10^–9 moll^–1 for cefazolin, cefotaxime, cefuroxime and ceftriaxone respectively, applying the accumulation times of 5 to 14 min. Direct and simple determination of cefazolin as a model compound in urine was established with no other manipulation of urine sample than dilution 1 + 500 with buffer and subsequent adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination. The detection limit of the method is 7 gml^–1 (1.5 × 10^–5 moll^–1) of cefazolin in urine, and the relative standard deviation of 9 measurements was found to be 2.8% at 23 gml^–1 of cefazolin in urine. Similar values were found for other three compounds as well. These values are comparable or even better than those obtained by high performance liquid Chromatographic methods and approve the suitability of the proposed method for urine level monitoring in clinical practice and pharmacological studies.