Colourimetric and AAS determination of cephalosporins using Reineck's salt

Two simple, accurate, sensitive and selective procedures for the determination of eight cephalosporins are described. These procedures are based on the formation of ion-pair complexes between the drugs and ammonium reineckate, the formed precipitates are quantitatively determined either colourimetrically or by atomic absorption spectrometrically. The methods consist of reacting drugs with Reinecke's salt in an acidic medium at 25+/-2 degrees. The first colourimetric procedure (procedure I) is based on dissolving the formed precipitate with acetone, the volume was completed quantitatively and the absorbance of the solution was measured at 525 nm against pure solvent blank. Also, the formed precipitates on the atomic absorption spectrometric procedure (procedure II) are quantitatively determined directly or indirectly through the chromium precipitate formed or the residual unreacted chromium in the filtrate at 358.6 nm. The optimum conditions for precipitation have been carefully studied. Beer's law is obeyed for the studied drugs in the range 5-35 microg ml(-1) with correlation coefficients not less-than 0.9989. Both procedures I and II hold well accuracy and precision when applied to the analysis of the cited cephalosporins in different dosage forms with good recovery percent ranged from 98.7+/-0.90 to 100.1+/-0.74 without interference from additives.