Utility of silver-nanoparticles for nano-fluorimetric determination of vancomycin hydrochloride in pharmaceutical formulation and biological fluids: Greenness assessment

Abstract Vancomycin hydrochloride (VANH) is a glycopeptide antibiotic commonly employed in the prophylaxis and therapy of various gram-positive bacterial life-threatening infections. Due to the narrow therapeutic window of VANH, its serum levels should be well-monitored to avoid toxicity and optimize its therapy. Herein, an innovative silver-nanoparticles enhanced fluorescence technique was designed for VANH rapid analysis in miscellaneous matrices. This technique is based on reinforcement of VANH fluorescence intensity with silver-nanoparticles that were synthesized by a redox reaction between VANH and silver nitrate in NaOH alkaline medium using polyvinylpyrrolidone as a stabilizer. The produced silver-nanoparticles were characterized by using UV-visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope (TEM) micrograph. The fluorescence intensity was measured at 394 nm after excitation at 259 nm. Under optimum conditions, a good linear relationship was accomplished between the VANH concentration and the fluorescence intensity in a range of (1-36) ng/mL with a limit of detection of 0.29 ng/mL. Greenness assessment was performed using two assessment tools namely; eco-scale scoring and green analytical procedure index revealing excellent greenness of the proposed technique. The proposed technique was validated according to ICH recommendations and statistically compared with the reported HPLC method revealing no significant difference concerning accuracy and precision at p=0.05. The proposed technique depended primarily on the water as a cheap and eco-friendly solvent consequently; it’s regarded as a green alternative to the expensive chromatographic techniques that utilize hazardous organic solvents. Furthermore, the attained ultrasensitivity of the proposed technique can be adapted for VANH monitoring and studying its bioequivalence in biological fluids.