Strong Anion Exchange On-Line Solid Phase Extraction and Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Cefuroxime in Spiked Human Plasma Samples

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On-line solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography (SPE-LC) allows direct determination of drugs from all biological fluids without any sample pre-treatment. Ion exchange is one of the SPE types used for the extraction of drug molecules, especially those containing carboxyl or amino groups. In this study, a novel sample pre-treatment free, fully automated on-line SPE-LC method was developed for the determination of cefuroxime, a broad-spectrum second-generation cephalosporin antibiotic, in spiked human plasma samples. A quaternary amine functionlized hydrophilic modified styrene polymer strong anion exchange (SAX) sorbent was utilized as the solid phase, which was in-house packed using a tailor-made SPE hardware. A C18 analytical column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) was connected to SPE by a 10-port switching valve. A mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and 10 mm aqueous ortho-phosphoric acid solution was used with a dual gradient elution (1.0 mL/min). Cefuroxime was detected at 276 nm. Total analysis time was 13 min including equilibration-fractionation-separation-washing steps. Linear range was 5.00–200.00 µg/mL. LOD and LOQ were 1.03 and 3.11 µg/mL, respectively. Developed on-line SPE-LC method was novel and practical with recovery values higher than 90% and RSDs ≤2.82%, indicating that the SAX sorbent was effective for the extraction of cefuroxime from spiked plasma samples.