Determination of ofloxacin in human serum by high-performance liquid chromatography with column switching

The chromatographic behaviour of ofloxacin on various sorbents, including ODS, C8, C1, nitril, phenyl and tert,-butyl, as stationary phases was investigated and a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay was developed for the determination of ofloxacin in serum. The serum samples were directly introduced onto an HPLC column after filtering through a Morcut II membrane filter to remove proteins. The filtrate was concentrated on a pre-column using a phenyl stationary phase and was then introduced to an analytical column with an ODS stationary phase by column switching. Ofloxacin and enoxacin as an internal standard were detected by ultraviolet absorbance at 300 nm. Determination was possible for ofloxacin over the concentration range 50-2000 ng/ml; the limit of detection was 20 ng/ml. The recovery of ofloxacin added to serum was 88.8-101.7% with a coefficient of variation of less than 5.2%. This method is applicable to pharmacokinetic studies of patients after treatment with ofloxacin.