A comparison of various calibration techniques applied to the ninhydrin-cefoxitin determination

This report deals with spectrophotometric determination of cefoxitin from intact antibiotics or from its acid induced degradation product by means of their reaction with ninhydrin in a strong sulphuric acid medium. To obtain the calibration graphs four methods were used: absorbance of reacted cefoxitin against a reagent blank as an analytical signal, first-derivative signal of absorbance against a water blank as an analytical signal, first-derivative signal of absorbance against a reagent blank as an analytical signal and the H-Point Standard Additions Method (HPSAM) by using absorbance increment values as analytical signals. The HPSAM is applied to the determination of cefoxitin in the presence of its acid-degraded product. Ninhydrin-cefoxitin determination is compared with reversed-phase HPLC determination and with the iodometric method.