Flow-injection with enhanced chemiluminescence detection of ofloxacin in human plasma

A simple, rapid and sensitive method for the determination of ofloxacin in plasma has been developed based on flow-injection analysis with enhanced chemiluminescence (CL) detection. This method employs the CL reaction of cerium(IV) and sulphite sensitized by a Tb(III)-ofloxacin complex. Plasma samples were deproteinized with acetonitrile before analysis. Under optimal conditions, the method allowed the quantitative analysis of ofloxacin in plasma over the range of 22.5-900 ng/mL with a detection limit of 7.5 ng/mL (3sigma). The intra-day and inter-day precision was < 3.0% (n = 11) and < 7.0% (n = 3), respectively. The method was a convenient tool, rapid (20 s/analysis) and well suited for pharmacokinetics studies in which thousands of samples must be analysed daily. It was applied to pharmacokinetics studies of ofloxacin.