Bacterial infections are the second leading cause of global mortality. Considering this fact, it is extremely important studying the antimicrobial agents. Amoxicillin is an antimicrobial agent that belongs to the class of penicillins; it has bactericidal activity and is widely used in the Brazilian health system. In literature, some analytical methods are found for the identification and quantification of this penicillin, which are essential for its quality control, which ensures maintaining the product characteristics, therapeutic efficacy and patient's safety. Thus, this study presents a brief literature review on amoxicillin and the analytical methods developed for the analysis of this drug in official and scientific papers. The major analytical methods found were high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra-performance liquid chromatography (U-HPLC), capillary electrophoresis and iodometry and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform. It is essential to note that most of the developed methods used toxic and hazardous solvents, which makes necessary industries and researchers choose to develop environmental-friendly techniques to provide enhanced benefits to environment and staff.

Amoxicillin is an antimicrobial agent that belongs to the penicillin compounds. Its bactericidal action causes a destruction of the cell wall of bacteria. It is widely used in clinical practice, and it belongs to the Brazilian National List of Essential Drugs (RENAME). In literature, there are some green analytical methods for the amoxicillin analysis; however, none of them is focused on its quantification in capsules. Therefore, the aim of this study was to validate an environmentally friendly analytical method for the analysis of this antimicrobial action in capsules, using spectrophotometry in the mid-infrared region. The analyses were performed in the spectral range of 1815–1736 cm−1, and the samples were analyzed as potassium bromide pellets. The method was validated according to the ICH guidelines and Brazilian legislation. Linearity, selectivity, precision, accuracy, and robustness were evaluated and showed adequate results for method validation, in a concentration range of 0.5–1.5 mg/pellet. Thus, it is concluded that the validated spectrophotometric method is able to quantify amoxicillin in capsules. In addition, it is a fast, economical, and environmentally friendly method, since it does not use organic solvents, and it can be used for quality control of routine analysis of this drug.