The �-lactam group of antibiotics includes many of the most prescribed drugs in the world, including the three antibiotics used in this research: amoxicillin, ampicillin, and penicillin. Counterfeiting, adulteration, and misrepresentation of these antibiotics in developing countries pose a threat to global health, fuel a black market that rewards criminals, and reduce the availability of reliable antibiotics in communities with dire need. Paper-based tests for these antibiotics have shown that a ninhydrin test can be used to affirm the presence of a �-lactam antibiotic, and can even demonstrate which antibiotic is present through a visible color change. This test is limited in that it simply affirms or denies the presence of the antibiotic in a given pill. This research aims to create a novel method of quantifying the presence of the antibiotic using ImageJ color analysis. The research was conducted by taking a series photographs of the ninhydrin test results for the three antibiotics on paper at various time intervals in a light box, and analyzing the photographs for RGB (red-green-blue) values using ImageJ software. Analysis of the images at given points in time gave a value from 0-256 for each color. Preliminary testing showed that increasing the percentage of adulterants including talc and starch directly correlated with increase in the B-value given by ImageJ for all three antibiotics. The visible blue tinge in the paper test was quantified with ImageJ, with respect to each individual antibiotic. Future testing will establish a rough threshold B-value for each drug that signifies that a pill is adulterated to a level that is dangerous for human health, and provide RGB limits for various adulterants that are common in counterfeit �-lactam antibiotics.

Quantification of �-lactam antibiotics in paper analytical devices using ImageJ software analysis

246th National Meeting (2013)

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