Rapid potentiometric and spectrophotometric determination of cefotaxime in pharmaceutical and biological samples samples

Simple, precise, rapid, and low-cost potentiometric and spectrophotometric methods for the cefotaxime determination in pure, pharmaceutical forms, and biological samples (urine and serum samples). Potentiometric method is based on direct titration of cefotaxime in aqueous medium of with 0.1 M NaOH at µ = 0.5 NaCl and 25 ± 1.0 ℃ utilizing a combined glass pH electrode. Wielding standard addition method based on Gran plot, we found that both lower limits of detection and quantification were 2.89 and 4.0 µg/mL, respectively over a linear concentration range of 4.0 to 65.0 µg/mL of cefotaxime with correlation coefficient of R ²  = 0.9973 and with standard deviation (SD = 0.1) (n = 5). Cefotaxime content in pure solutions, vials, urine, and serum were effectively determined using this approach, with satisfactory findings. Common components found in the samples examined did not cause any interference. Cefotaxime was recovered in a range of 95.0–101.6% from various biological fluids and vial dosage forms. Furthermore, the Prussian Blue (PB) complex production was used as the basis for the spectrophotometric approach. The spectrophotometric detection and determination of cefotaxime was made possible by interaction between cefotaxime acidic hydrolysis product (at 70°C) and a combination of FeCl₃ and hexacyanoferrate (III) ions. The maximum absorbance of the formed complex measured at 700 nm with 2.50×10 ⁴ Lmol ^− 1 cm ^− 1 molar absorptivity. The Prussian Blue (PB) complex demonstrated great stability and sensitivity under ideal circumstances, with absorbance rising in direct proportion to the cefotaxime concentration. It was found that the quantification limit was 1.35 µg/mL and the detection limit was 0.41 µg/mL. The linear calibration curve within a concentration range of 1.0–6.0 µg/mL has a standard deviation of 0.004 and a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.9957 (n = 5). The suggested technique worked well for identifying cefotaxime in biological samples, pharmaceutical formulations, and pure form. The outcomes were in favorable concordance with values reported in literature for the cefotaxime determination along with those obtained using the offered potentiometric approach.