Simultaneous determination of sulfaquinoxaline, sulfamethazine and pyrimethamine by liquid chromatography

A liquid chromatography method is described to determine sulfaquinoxaline (SQX), sulfamethazine (SMT), and pyrimethamine (PMT), by using a Kromasil C18 column and a 40 mM NaH2PO4 buffer solution, containing 10 mM NaClO4 (pH 3.0)–acetonitrile (65:35) as mobile phase. The mobile phase flow-rate and sample volume injected were 1.5 ml/min and 20 μl, respectively and the samples were dissolved in the mobile phase. The limits of quantification were found to be about 180 μg/l (3.6 ng) for each compound. The method was applied in veterinary commercial formulations. Analyses were made by means of the standard addition method, whose results were compared with those obtained by preparing “tests” (from the stock solutions) and with those obtained by a capillary electrophoresis method. Both methods showed similar results, and then it was proved that some commercial claimed levels were not in agreement with the obtained results by using our analytical method, as they were in other cases.