Chemiluminescence flow-injection analysis of β-lactam antibiotics using the luminol-permanganate reaction

A new flow injection chemiluminescence (CL) method has been developed for the determination of six β-lactam antibiotics, including amoxicillin, cefadroxil, cefoperazone sodium, cefazolin sodium, cefradine and ceftriaxone sodium. When the antibiotic was injected into a stream of KMnO₄ with alkaline luminol, a strong CL signal was produced. The method allows the measurements of 0.1-50.0 mg/L amoxicillin, 0.1-80.0 mg/L cefadroxil, 1.0-30.0 mg/L cefoperazone sodium, 1.0-30.0 mg/L cefazolin sodium, 3.0-50.0 mg/L cefradine and 3.0-50.0 mg/L ceftriaxone sodium. The detection limits are 0.05 mg/L for amoxycillin, 0.05 mg/L for cefadroxil, 0.4 mg/L for cefoperazonum sodium, 0.4 mg/L for cefazolin sodium, 0.8 mg/L for cefradine and 0.8 mg/L for ceftriaxone sodium. The relative standard deviations in 11 repeated measurements are 0.6%, 0.8%, 1.5%, 1.2%, 0.4% and 0.3% for 3.0 mg/L amoxicillin, 1.0 mg/L cefadroxil, 10.0 mg/L cefoperazone sodium, 10.0 mg/L cefazolin sodium, 10.0 mg/L cefradine and 10.0 mg/L ceftriaxone sodium, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the determination of amoxicillin in pharmaceutical preparations. A possible CL reaction mechanism is also discussed.