Application of capillary zone electrophoresis in cephalosporin analysis

Cephalosporins have structures and antibiotic activity similar to those of penicillins which represent a class of compounds with closely related structures. Most of the cephalosporins contain aromatic groups and show distinctive UV spectra. Separating the different types of cephalosporins is a challenging task for HPLC, but the resolving power of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) makes this separation fast and simple. The present study reports the application of CZE for cephalosporin analysis and the separation of cephalosporins from plasma. Both field strength and temperature were shown to influence the plate number. The influence of injection time on the peak height was studied. Furthermore, the influence of pH value on the separation of cephalosporins by CZE was investigated. The low sample amount required and the relatively short analysis time are the main advantages of this method.