Ultrasonic assisted SPME coupled with GC and GC-MS using pencil lead as a fiber for monitoring the organic volatile impurities of ceftazidime.

A simple, rapid, non-destructive, and in-situ method for the isolation and sampling of organic volatile impurities in Ceftazidime is developed using solid-phase microextraction (SPME). For the monitoring of the extracted compounds, gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry analyses are used. The effective factors such as nature of the fiber, SPME mode, extraction temperature, and ultrasonic assistance have been investigated and detailed here. Qualification studies reveal the existence of pyridine (as a degradation product of ceftazidime) and the residual solvents; acetone, methylene-chloride, and diethylamine are the main impurities in the studied pharmaceutical. External standard method is used for quantitative analysis. The % relative standard deviation values are below 10%, and the limits of detection for the detected solvents are 1.06, 0.98, 0.83, and 0.51 ppm, respectively. The proposed method is both accurate and linear and could be used in quality control of ceftazidime and also its stability investigations.