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.