Standardization of an analytical method to determine ampicillin as a contaminant in low concentrations, in aqueous samples by HPLC-UV

Estandarización de un método analítico para determinar ampicilina como contaminante en bajas concentraciones, en muestras acuosas por HPLC-UV

Abstract

Antibiotics are used in both animals and humans to treat various diseases and the residues found in excretions pass into the soil and wastewater, and subsequently into water bodies, contaminating them. Various analytical techniques are used to determine the presence of antibiotics, among which is High Resolution Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The objective of this work was to determine ampicillin (AMP) in solutions at low concentration using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet Detection (HPLC-UV) equipment. The Limit of Detection (LOD) was 24.2 μg L-1 and the Limit of Quantification (LOQ) was equal to 86.3 μg L-1, reaching a sample pre-concentration value of 50. With this pre-concentration of the sample, ampicillin could be determined at a concentration of up to 3.2 μg L-1 with a recovery percentage greater than 94%. The coefficient of determination obtained (R2) was 0.998 and the correlation coefficient, R, was 0.99, demonstrating a linear correlation in the working range.