Determination of fluoroquinolone antibacterials as N-acyl derivatives

Summary A simple and quantitative method for the preparation and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of N-acylated fluoroquinolones has been developed. The acylation procedure was performed with four different acid anhydrides and found to be applicable to several fluoroquinolones. The acylated derivatives were chromatographed directly on a Nucleosil C₁₈ column without the necessity of further sample manipulation. Detector response for the N-acetyl derivatives of norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, sarafloxacin, and temafloxacin was linear to at least 50 g/mL. The retention behavior of the N-acyl derivatives can be predicted by the length of the carbon chain of the amide.