Tobramycin is an important aminoglycoside antibiotic used in ophthalmic and intravenous treatments to treat bacterial infections by blocking protein synthesis.[1] Determinations of tobramycin, kanamycin and other aminoglycoside antibiotics have been previously demonstrated by HPAE-IPAD since 2004.[2–6] This document updates Thermo Scientific™ Application Note 61 using a highpressure-capable Dionex Integrion HPIC system equipped with updated EG technology and an electrochemical detector.

Antibiotics are widely used to treat diseased animals, prevent diseases and promote growth. However, inappropriate or excessive usage of antibiotics can result in antibiotic residues being found found in food and food products of animal origin. In here, a multi-residue, confirmatory method for the quantitative determination of antibiotics in chicken meat is described using the Thermo Scientific Transcend TLX system coupled to an LC-MS/MS. With online sample cleanup and high sample throughput, this approach addresses the demand for a fast and cost-effective multi-analyte method.

The use of LC-MS/MS for screening was described in a validated multi-residue screening method to monitor 58 antibiotics in milk.

This update describes how tobramycin and its typical impurities can be determined in manufacturing process matrices using the same HPAE-IPAD method described in AN 61. The same method is used to assay tobramycin that is intentionally degraded, demonstrating its suitability as a stability indicating method. An ICS-6000 can be used for this application.

In this application note, we combine the CarboPac PA1, eluent generator with CR-ATC, and disposable Au working electrodes to demonstrate an improved HPAE-PAD technology for tobramycin purity analysis.