Application of Plackett–Burman Design for Spectrochemical Determination of the Last-Resort Antibiotic, Tigecycline, in Pure Form and in Pharmaceuticals: Investigation of Thermodynamics and Kinetics

Tigecycline (TIGC) reacts with 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) to form a bright green charge transfer complex (CTC). The spectrum of the CTC showed multiple charge transfer bands with a major peak at 843 nm. The Plackett–Burman design (PBD) was used to investigate the process variables with the objective being set to obtaining the maximum absorbance and thus sensitivity. Four variables, three of which were numerical (temperature—Temp; reagent volume—RV; reaction time—RT) and one non-numerical (diluting solvent—DS), were studied. The maximum absorbance was achieved using a factorial blend of Temp: 25 °C, RV: 0.50 mL, RT: 60 min, and acetonitrile (ACN) as a DS. The molecular composition that was investigated using Job’s method showed a 1:1 CTC. The method’s validation was performed following the International Conference of Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The linearity was achieved over a range of 0.5–10 µg mL−1 with the limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 166 and 504 ng mL−1, respectively. The method was applicable to TIGC per se and in formulations without interferences from common additives. The application of the Benesi–Hildebrand equation revealed the formation of a stable complex with a standard Gibbs free energy change (∆G°) value of −26.42 to −27.95 kJ/mol. A study of the reaction kinetics revealed that the CTC formation could be best described using a pseudo-first-order reaction.