Micro determination of gentamicin in serum by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

A procedure for the high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of gentamicin in serum is described using pre-column derivatisation and UV detection. The serum proteins are precipitated with acetonitrile and the gentamicin components in the supernatant are derivatized with 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene. The reaction products are chromatographed on a microparticulate C18 reversed-phase column and detected at 365 nm. Sample volumes of 50 microliters are sufficient for the determination of gentamicin concentrations in, and well below, the therapeutic range.