HPTLC determination of ceftriaxone, cefixime and cefotaxime in dosage forms

The objective of this investigation was to develop a HPTLC method for the d etermination of ceftriaxone, cefixime and cefotaxime, cephalosporins widely used in clinical practice, High performance TLC of cephalosporins was perf ormed on pre-coated silica gel HPTLC plates with concentrating zone (2.5 x 10 cm) by development in mobile phase ethyl acetate-acetone-methanol-water (5:2.5:2.5:1.5 v/v/v/v). A TLC scanner set at 270 nm was used for direct ev aluation of the chromatograms in reflectance/absorbance mode. The calibrati on curves were established as dependence of peak height (linear and polynom ial regression) and peak area (polynomial regression) versus ng level (125- 500 ng for all cephalosporins investigated). Relative standard deviations o btained from calibration curves was compared. Precision (RSD: 1.12-2.91% (p eak height versus ng) and RSD: 1.05-2.75% (peak area versus ng)), and detec tion limits (ng level) was validated and found to be satisfactory. The meth od was found to be reproducible and convenient for quantitative analysis of ceftriaxone, cefixime and cefotaxime in their raw materials and their dosa ge forms. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.