Determination of tetracycline and its major degradation products by chemiluminescence

A fast and simple flow injection chemiluminometric method for the determination of trace amounts of tetracycline (TC) and its major degradation products epitetracycline (ETC), epianhydrotetracycline (EATC) and anhydrotetracycline (ATC) based upon the action of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) in alkaline solution has been developed. The analytes can be determined with 10 sigma limits of quantification of 0.5 mu g for ETC, 2.0 mu g for TC, 0.01 mu g for EATC and 0.04 mu g for ATC. The sensitivity for TC is greatly improved by acidic degradation prior to the chemiluminescence (CL) measurement. The method developed allows measurement within the ranges of 0.040-2.0 mu g TC and ATC, 0.50-5.0 mu g ETC and 0.01-2.0 mu g EATC. (C)2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.