A rapid, developed and validated RP-HPLC method for determination of azithromycin

A validated, highly sensitive and precise high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of the macrolides erythromycin, azithromycin, clarithromycin and roxithromycin in human serum is described. A diethyl ether extract, obtained from serum using a saturated sodium carbonate solution, was treated with 9-fluorenylmethyl-oxycarbonyl chloride (FMOC-Cl) for 40 min at 40 degrees C and chromatographed on a base-deactivated octadecyl column, maintained at 50 degrees C during elution, using an eluent composed of acetonitrile-hydrogenphosphate buffer, pH 7.5, with 0.125% triethylamine (3:2, v/v). Fluorescence detection was used at an excitation wavelength of 255 nm and an emission wavelength of 315 nm. Erythromycin, clarithromycin, roxithromycin and azithromycin were found to have retention times of 8.8, 15.7, 17.1 and 20.7 min, respectively. Recoveries ranging from 93 to 104% were found with reproducibility coefficients of variation of 1.1-5%. Mean correlation coefficients of 0.9997, 0.9998, 0.9996 and 0.9994 were found for the linear calibration curves (n = 2) of erythromycin (0.320-16.1 mg/l), roxithromycin (3.24-19.4 mg/l), clarithromycin (0.190-19.4 mg/l) and azithromycin (0.0988-4.94 mg/l), respectively.

The validation of a microbiological assay, applying the cylinder-plate method, for the determination of the antibiotic azithromycin is described. Using a strain of Micrococcus luteus ATCC 9341 as the test organism, azithromycin at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 0.4 microgml(-1) could be measured in capsules and suspensions. A prospective validation of the method showed that it was linear (r=0.998), precise (RSD=1.40-capsules; RSD=1.19-powder for suspension and RSD=1.73-oral suspension) and accurate (it measured the added quantities). We conclude that the microbiological assay is satisfactory for quantitation of in vitro antibacterial activity of azithromycin.

A fast and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of azithromycin in human serum using fluorescence detection was developed. The drug and an internal standard (clarithromycin) were extracted from serum using n-hexan and subjected to pre-column derivatization with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate as labeling agent. Analysis was performed on a phenyl packing material column with sodium phosphate buffer containing 2 ml/l triethylamine (pH 5.9) and methanol (29:71, v/v) as the mobile phase. The standard curve was linear over the range of 10-500 ng/ml of azithromycin in human serum. The means between-days precision were from 13.3% (for 10 ng/ml) to 2% (500 ng/ml) and the within-day precision from 11.9 to 1.7% determined on spiked samples. The accuracy of the method was 100.7-107.2% (between days) and 100.3-107.8% (within day). The limit of quantification was 10 ng/ml. This method was applied in a bioequivalence study of four different azithromycin preparations in 12 healthy volunteers.