Abstract
A rapid and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination and quantification of cephalosporins (cefpirome, cefaclor, ceftazidime, and cephradine) in pharmaceutical formulations. Separation was achieved in the presence of caffeine as internal standard on a Mediterranea C18 (5 mu m, 25 x 0.46 mm) column. The mobile phase was composed of methanol and water (30:70), which was pumped at a flow rate of 1 mL min(-1). Effluents were monitored at 265 nm. The assay was linear in the concentration range of 0.5-50 mu g mL(-1), with the correlation coefficient (r(2)) greater than 0.9998. The intra-day and inter-day coefficients of variation (CV %) were less than 4% at different concentrations.