Chemometric analysis of chromatographic data in stability investigation of cephalosporins

Abstract

The specific aim of this investigation was to study the kinetics of the degradation of cefazolin, cefaclor, cefuroxime axetil, and cefepime in aqueous solution, in the presence (or absence) of various redox agents (iodine solution, potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide, sodium thiosulfate, and ascorbic acid) as a function of temperature. Various factors, such as concentration of the analyzed compounds and redox agents, storage time, and temperature, were analyzed. The degradation process of chosen antibiotics was observed chromatographically and fitted to the kinetic models, obtaining model parameters (k, t0.1, t0.5). Principal component analysis (PCA), parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) methods were carried out to interpret the dependencies between these factors on the drug stability.