Voltammetric studies on the antibiotic drug cefoperazone: Quantification and pharmacokinetic studies

A fully validated simple, sensitive and selective square-wave stripping voltammetry procedure was described for the trace quantification of cefoperazone in bulk form, formulations and human serum/plasma. The procedure was based on reduction of the adsorbed drug onto a hanging mercury drop electrode. The procedural conditions were optimized as: frequency = 60 Hz, scan increment = 8 mV, pulse amplitude = 25 mV, preconcentration potential = −0.3 V (versus Ag/Ag/KCls), preconcentration duration = 60–150 s and an acetate buffer of pH 4.2 as a supporting electrolyte. A limit of detection of 4.5 × 10−10 M and a limit of quantitation of 1.5 × 10−9 M bulk cefoperazone were achieved following preconcentration of the drug onto the hanging mercury drop electrode for 150 s. The proposed square-wave adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetric procedure was successfully applied for trace quantification of cefoperazone in human serum and plasma. The achieved limits of detection and quantitation of the drug in human serum were 6 × 10−10 M (0.375 ng ml−1) and 2 × 10−9 M (1.250 ng ml−1), respectively. The pharmacokinetic parameters of cefoperazone in plasma of hospitalized volunteers were successfully estimated.