Application of high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated techniques for identification of degradation products of cefpodoxime proxetil

Application of the HPLC hyphenated techniques of LC–MS, LC–NMR and solvent-elimination LC–IR was demonstrated by the identification of the degradation products of a third generation cephalosporin antibiotic, cefpodoxime proxetil, in solid state, drug formulation and solution. Molecular weight and fragment information were obtained by LC–MS, and detailed structural information was confirmed by LC–NMR. Information on the carboxyl functional group obtained by solvent-elimination LC–IR was useful for confirmation of the ester hydrolysis. The degradation products were successfully identified without complicated isolation or purification processes.