Molecularly imprinted sol-gels for nafcillin determination in milk-based products.

A study has been made of the analytical application of a nafcillin-imprinted sol-gel to the direct determination of the beta-lactamic antibiotic in spiked milk-based samples using a room temperature phosphorescent flow-through system. The influence of the sample matrix on the transduction and the recognition processes was statistically determined, and results demonstrated that the imprinted sol-gel optosensing system could be effectively applied to real sample analysis. The analytical performance characteristics were as follows: The detection limit results for aqueous and skimmed milk were 5.8 x 10(-6) and 3.3 x 10(-5) mol L(-1), respectively, and a relative standard deviation less than 5% was found for both matrices. Statistical analysis of variance studies have been shown to have no significant effect on different skimmed milk commercial products over the imprinted material recognition. This fact provides an indicator of the ruggedness/robustness of the proposed analytical system and the possibility to use external real matrix calibration. Application of the method to nafcillin analysis in other milk-based samples is outlined.

Insights into the reaction of beta-lactam antibiotics with copper(II) ions in aqueous and micellar media: kinetic and spectrometric studies.

Degradation of beta-lactam antibiotics by means of metallic cations seems to have a very complex chemistry, involving not only the catalytic effect of the metal ion but also complex formation. Many different compounds, such as methylpyrazines, oxazolones, penicilloic, penicillenic, and penicillonic acids, have been reported as degradation products of such antibiotics, although not many details about the progress of the reaction can be found in the literature. Two novel fluorimetric and spectrophotometric methods previously published by the authors, as well as kinetic studies, have been used to propose a possible reaction mechanism for the ampicillin degradation in the presence of copper(II) ions. Likewise, we have proposed the chemical structure required by the beta-lactam antibiotics to develop absorption or fluorescence properties. Kinetics in micellar and aqueous media shows that the copper-ampicillin reaction proceeds through different pathways depending on the reaction medium.