Potassium permanganate-glyoxal chemiluminescence system for flow injection analysis of cephalosporin antibiotics: cefalexin, cefadroxil, and cefazolin sodium in pharmaceutical preparations

A sensitive flow injection chemiluminescence (FL-CL) method for the determination of cephalosporin antibiotics, was developed. The method was based on that cephalosporin antibiotics could enhance the CL reaction of glyoxal and KMnO₄ in sulfuric acid. Method development included the optimization of reagent concentrations and flow-rate. Under the optimized conditions, three cephalosporin antibiotics: cefalexin, cefadroxil, and cefazolin sodium, were determined. The detection limits of the method are 10 ng ml⁻¹ cefalexin, 2 ng ml⁻¹ cefadroxil, and 2 ng ml⁻¹ cefazolin sodium. The method was successfully applied to the determination of three cephalosporin antibiotics in pharmaceutical preparations.