Insight into the degradation mechanism of cefixime under crystallization condition

The chemical stability of cefixime was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) under different conditions, including factors such as pH, solvents, initial concentration, temperature and additives. The degradation process follows the first-order kinetics. A pH-rate profile exhibits the U-shape and shows the maximum stability of cefixime at pH = 6. The stability in different pure solvents is ranked as acetone > ethanol > methanol > water, while the degradation rate of cefixime exists a maximum at the ratio of 0.6 in water + methanol mixtures. In addition, the degradation rate increases with the temperature increasing and the activation energy of degradation was found to be 27.078 kJ·mol− 1 in acetone + water mixed solvents. The addition of different additives was proven to either inhibit or accelerate the degradation. The degradation products were analyzed using HPLC, LC-MS and infrared spectroscopy, and the possible degradation pathways in acid as well as alkaline environment were proposed to help us understand the degradation behavior of cefixime.