Determination of gentamicin in pharmaceutical formulations using peroxyoxalate chemiluminescent detection in flow-injection analysis

A simple and sensitive procedure for the determination of gentamicin is presented, based on the use of the peroxyoxalate chemiluminescent (PO-CL) system in presence of imidazole as a catalyst. The gentamicin has to be previously derivatized with o-phthaladehyde (OPA) in order to obtain a fluorophore, which participates in the PO reaction, producing a CL emission proportional to the gentamicin concentration. The method is developed by using a particular flow-injection analysis (FIA) manifold, employing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micellar medium as a carrier in order to avoid the degradation of PO in water. The optimization of the instrumental and chemical variables affecting the CL reaction was rigorously carried out by using experimental design methodology. The method has been successfully applied to pharmaceutical formulations.