High Performance Liquid Chromatographic Analysis of Erythromycin

Abstract

Liquid chromatographic analysis can provide a simpler and superior alternative to microbial assay of antibiotics. A number of liquid chromatographic methods for the analysis of erythromycin have been published in the past 17 years. However, many of these methods are complex and lack the selectivity needed for the assay of erythromycin in the presence of erythromycin derivatives and impurities. We examined several C₁₈ based stationary phase columns and developed a significantly improved C₁₈ liquid chromatographic method for the assay of erythromycin. In comparison to a recently published polymer (poly(styrene-divinylbenzene)) stationary phase LC method, our method is simpler, more rugged, faster, and more sensitive. The developed method has been successfully used for the analysis of erythromycin in commercial bulk samples. The chromatographic assay results correlate with microbiological assay.