Gas chromatographic and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of ampicillin

A method was developed for the quantitative gas chromatographic (GC) determination of ampicillin. The procedure requires silylation iwth hexamethyldisilazane, trimethylchlorosilane, trimethylsilylimidazole and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide in pyridine and subsequent GC on an OV-17 column, using 5 alpha-cholestane as an internal standard. The method was applied to the determination of ampicillin in some pharmaceutical products. The characteristics of the mass spectra and the derivatization GC of ampicillin are also discussed.