Separation and Kinetic‐Spectrophotometric Determination of Ketoconazole from Formulations Using SDS‐Coated Al2O3and KMnO4 in Alkaline‐SDS Micellar Medium

A kinetic method for the accurate and sensitive determination of Ketoconazole (KC) has been described. The method is based on the alkaline oxidation of KC with KMnO₄ in micellar SDS medium. At a fixed time of 8 min, the formed manganate ion is spectrophotometrically measured at 610 nm. The determination of KC by the fixed‐concentration and rate constant methods is feasible with the calibration equation obtained, but the fixed time method proves to be more applicable. The proposed method was successfully used for the quantitative determination of KC in formulations after the complete separation of KC using SDS‐coated Al₂O₃ as a suitable solid‐phase extraction system in comparison to liquid‐liquid extraction using poisonous organic solvents. Beer's law was obeyed from 0.4 to 28 μg mL^?1 and the RSD% values for tablet, cream and shampoo samples were 1.8, 1.4 and 2.3, respectively. The results obtained agreed with those obtained by the USP method.     

Spectrophotometric determination of chloride in barium sulphate precipitates following isolation of the analyte

A spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of chloride concentrations between 0.2 and 5 mgL^?1 in barium sulphate precipitates, obtained by precipitation of sulphate in concentrations of 50 to 250 mgL^?1 or even lower. The proposed method involves prior dissolution of the barium sulphate precipitate in hot conc. sulphuric acid and collection of the released hydrogen chloride by means of gaseous nitrogen. The analytical calibration function was obtained by the least-squares procedure from 10 determinations at each of three concentration levels of a standard solution of chloride. The lack of fit of experimental points to the least-squares straight line was found to be negligible at a significance level of 5%. Blank measurements were required in all instances as the blank absorbance varied with time.     

Development and validation of a generic RP‐HPLC PDA method for the simultaneous separation and quantification of active ingredients in cold and cough medicines

A novel generic reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) method is developed and validated for simultaneous determination of seven pharmaceutically active ingredients, namely, acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, doxylamine, phenylephrine, guaifenesin, caffeine and aspirin. All seven ingredients were quantified in soft gel, syrup and tablet formulations of the over‐the‐counter US‐marketed products, as per the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization. The separation was achieved in a 16 min run time on an Agilent Zorbax Phenyl column using a gradient method with two mobile phases. Mobile phase A was 0.15% trifluoro acetic acid in purified water and while mobile phase B was a mixture of acetonitrile and methanol (750:250 v/v) with 0.02% trifluoro acetic acid. The flow rate was 1.0 mL min^?1 and injection volume was 10 μL. Detection was performed at 280 nm using a photodiode array detector. As part of the method validation, specificity, linearity, precision and recovery parameters were verified. The concentration and area relationships were linear (R² > 0.999), over the concentration ranges 20–120 μg mL^?1 for acetaminophen, 75–450 μg mL^?1 for dextromethorphan, 31.25–187.5 μg mL^?1 for doxylamine, 25–150 μg mL^?1 for phenylephrine, 25–150 μg mL^?1 for aspirin, 6.5–39 μg mL^?1 for caffeine and 12–72 μg mL^?1 for guaifenesin. The relative standard deviations for precision and intermediate precision were <1.5%. The proposed RP‐HPLC generic method is applicable for routine analysis of cold and cough over‐the‐counter products.     

Colorimetric Sensing of Nitroaromatic Energetic Materials Using Surfactant-Stabilized and Dithiocarbamate-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

There is an increasing need for sensitive/selective determination of explosive traces in soil and post-blast debris for environmental and criminal investigations. A colorimetric sensor was developed to detect and quantify trinitrotoluene (TNT) and tetryl by the use of surfactant-stabilized and dithiocarbamate-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The sensor was manufactured by modifying the nanoparticles with the cationic surfactant cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and incorporating diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) in the AuNPs synthesis. DDTC firmly bound to AuNPs may show charge-transfer interactions with the —NO₂ groups of the analytes, and a color change proportional to analyte concentration accompanied the agglomeration of nanoparticles, at which the absorbances were recorded at 534?nm and 458?nm for TNT and tetryl, respectively. Although the limit of detection was 8?mgL^?1 (3.52?×?10^?5?molL^?1) for TNT and 0.8?mgL^?1 (2.78?×?10^?6?molL^?1) for tetryl, providing moderate sensitivity, the cost was greatly reduced compared to those of other thiol-functionalized AuNPs sensors. Possible interferences of other energetic substances in synthetic mixtures, of camouflage materials used in passenger belongings (e.g., detergent, sugar, caffeine, and paracetamol) and common soil ions were also examined. The method was statistically validated against a reference gas chromatography/mass spectrometry method. This sensor may pave the way for the manufacture of novel low-cost nitroaromatic explosive sensors made of DDTC-based pesticides.     

A Model to Establish the Limit of Decision and the Limit of Detection for Straight-Line Curves in a Case of Heteroscedasticity

Abstract

A problem arises when determining the decision and detection limits in a series of results where the variance of the error distribution of the analytical signals around their expectation is not a constant when applying a method proposed by Hubaux and Vos⁶. In this paper an approach is proposed to overcome this difficulty, that involves the use of a transform method to convert heteroscedastic data to homoscedastic data so that the limit of detection can be obtained by projection of the confidence band about the linear regression. This approach is applied to the case of a gravimetric determination of sulphate ion in the 1 – 5 mgL^?1 SO₄ ^2- range. The results obtained from this approach are compared from others obtained previously.     

Speciation analysis of inorganic vanadium (V(IV)/V(V)) by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry following ion-exchange separation

A sensitive and simple method of ion-exchange resin separation and graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) detection was proposed for the determination of inorganic vanadium species. Methylene Blue (MB) was used as a chelating agent of V(V) for ion-exchange separation. The complex of V(V) and MB could be trapped by ion-exchange resin at pH 3.0 and eluted by 1.0?mol?L^?1 NaOH. The vanadium species was determined subsequently by GFAAS. The concentration of V(IV) was calculated by subtracting the V(V) concentration from the total concentration of vanadium. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the detection limit of V(V) is 0.48?µg?L^?1 with RSD of 2.6% (n?=?5, c?=?2.0?µg?L^?1). In order to verify the accuracy of the method, a certified reference soil sample was analyzed, and the results obtained were in good agreement with the certified values. The range of recovery for V(IV) and V(V) was 97.8–99.3% and 101.7–103.6%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the speciation analysis of vanadium in lake-water samples.     

Effectiveness of the Photoactive Dye Methylene Blue versus Caspofungin on the Candida parapsilosis Biofilm in vitro and ex vivo

This research studied the effectiveness of the photoactive compound methylene blue (MB) activated with red LED light (576–672 nm) compared to that of caspofungin (CAS) on 1 Candida albicans and 3 Candida parapsilosis strains. Results were evaluated in terms of SMIC₅₀ for CAS or in PDI (photodynamic inactivation)‐SMIC₅₀ for MB (minimal inhibitory concentration inhibiting sessile biofilm to 50% in comparison to the control without CAS or after irradiation in comparison to the control without MB). While all strains were susceptible to CAS in planktonic form, the SMIC₅₀ was determined to be >16 μg mL^?1 when CAS was added to a 24 h biofilm. However, PDI‐MIC_50s (1.67 mW cm^?2, fluence 15 J cm^?2) were 0.0075–0.03 mmol L^?1. For biofilm, PDI‐SMIC_50s were in the range from 0.7 to 1.35 mmol L^?1. MB concentration of 1 mmol L^?1 prevented a biofilm being formed ex vivo on mouse tongues after irradiation regardless of the application time, in contrast to CAS, which was only effective at a concentration of 16 μg mL^?1 when it was added at the beginning of biofilm formation. PDI seems to be a promising method for the prevention of microbial biofilms that do not respond significantly to conventional drugs.     

Simultaneous determination of caffeine,paracetamol, and ibuprofen in pharmaceutical formulations by high‐performance liquid chromatography with UV detection and by capillary electrophoresis with conductivity detection

Paracetamol, caffeine and ibuprofen are found in over‐the‐counter pharmaceutical formulations. In this work, we propose two new methods for simultaneous determination of paracetamol, caffeine and ibuprofen in pharmaceutical formulations. One method is based on high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode‐array detection and the other on capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection. The separation by high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode‐array detection was achieved on a C₁₈ column (250×4.6 mm², 5 μm) with a gradient mobile phase comprising 20–100% acetonitrile in 40 mmol L^?1 phosphate buffer pH 7.0. The separation by capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection was achieved on a fused‐silica capillary (40 cm length, 50 μm i.d.) using 10 mmol L^?1 3,4‐dimethoxycinnamate and 10 mmol L^?1 β‐alanine with pH adjustment to 10.4 with lithium hydroxide as background electrolyte. The determination of all three pharmaceuticals was carried out in 9.6 min by liquid chromatography and in 2.2 min by capillary electrophoresis. Detection limits for caffeine, paracetamol and ibuprofen were 4.4, 0.7, and 3.4 μmol L^?1 by liquid chromatography and 39, 32, and 49 μmol L^?1 by capillary electrophoresis, respectively. Recovery values for spiked samples were between 92–107% for both proposed methods.     

Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Dopamine at a Nanocuprous Oxide‐Methylene Blue Composite Glassy Carbon Electrode

Cuprous oxide nanowhisker was prepared by using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CATB) as soft template, and was characterized by XRD and TEM methods. The electrochemical properties of nano‐Cu₂O and nano‐Cu₂O‐methylene blue (MB) modified electrode were studied. The experimental results indicate that nano‐Cu₂O shows a couple of redox peaks corresponding to the redox of Cu(II)/Cu(I), the peak currents are linear to the scan rates which demonstrate that the electrochemical response of Cu₂O is surface‐controlled. The composite nano‐Cu₂O‐Nafion‐MB modified electrode shows a trend of decrease of peak currents corresponding to the Cu (II)/Cu (I). However, the electrocatalytic ability of nano‐Cu₂O‐MB composite film to dopamine increases dramatically. At this composite electrode, dopamine shows a couple of quasireversible redox peaks with a peak separation of 106 mV, the peak current increases about 8 times and the oxidation peak potential decreases about 200 mV as compared to that at bare glassy carbon electrode. The peak currents change linearly with concentration of dopamine from 1×10^?7 to 3.2×10^?4 mol/L, the detection limit is 4.6×10^?8 mol/L. The composite electrode can effectively eliminate the interference of ascorbic acid and has better stability and excellent reproducibility.     

Electrochemical Sensing of NADH and Glutamate Based on Meldola Blue in 1,2‐Diaminobenzene and 3,4‐Ethylenedioxythiophene Polymer Films

The redox mediator Meldola blue (MB) was entrapped into two polymers, poly‐1,2‐diaminobenzene (p‐DAB) and poly‐3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene (p‐EDOT) by potential cycling and films were applied to NADH oxidation with subsequent glutamate detection using immobilized glutamate dehydrogenase. Both polymer films were tested for electrocatalysis of NADH using amperometry at E_app=0.1 V vs. Ag/AgCl and similar response characteristics were obtained with sensitivity values of 6.1 nA μM^?1, linear range up to 0.5 mM (R²=0.9972) and LOD of 50 μM. Subsequent amperometric determination of glutamate resulted in sensitivity 0.7 nA μM^?1, linearity 0–100 μM and detection limit of 2 μM glutamate.     

Fast Removal and Recovery of Methylene Blue by Activated Carbon Modified with Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

A magnetic adsorbent was synthesized by modification of activated carbons with magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (AC‐MIONs). The preparation method is fast and could be carried out in an ordinary condition. The AC‐MIONs were used as quite efficient adsorbents for separation of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution in a batch process. The effect of different parameters such as pH, temperature, electrolyte concentration, contact time and interfering ions on the removal of MB were studied. The adsorption data were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and a maximum adsorption amount of 47.62 mg g^‐1 and a langmuir adsorption equilibrium constant of 3.0 L mg^‐1 were obtained. The obtained results revealed that AC‐MIONs were effective adsorbents for fast removal of MB from different aqueous solutions. This adsorbent was successfully used for removal of MB from Karoon River water.     

Determination of neonicotinoid insecticides in environmental samples by micellar electrokinetic chromatography using solid‐phase treatments

A sensitive and reliable method based on MEKC has been developed and validated for trace determination of neonicotinoid insecticides (thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, and imidacloprid) and the metabolite 6‐chloronicotinic acid in water and soil matrices. Optimum separation of the neonicotinoid insecticides was obtained on a 58 cm long capillary (75 μm id) using as the running electrolyte 40 mM SDS, 5 mM borate (pH 10.4), and 5% (v/v) methanol at a temperature of 25°C, a voltage of 25 kV and with hydrodynamic injection (10 s). The analysis time was less than 7 min. Prior to MEKC determination, the samples were purified and enriched by carrying out extraction‐preconcentration steps. For aqueous samples, off‐line SPE with a sorptive material such as Strata‐X (polymeric hydrophobic sorbent) and octadecylsilane (C₁₈) was carried out to clean up and preconcentrate the insecticides. However, for soil samples, matrix solid‐phase dispersion (MSPD) was applied with C₁₈ used as the dispersant. Good linearity, accuracy, and precision were obtained and the detection limits were in the range between 0.01 and 0.07 μg mL^?1 for river water and 0.17 and 0.37 μg g^?1 for soil samples. Recovery levels reached greater than 92% for all of the assayed neonicotinoids in river water samples with Strata‐X. In soil matrices, the best recoveries (63–99%) were obtained with MSPD.     

Electrochemical Oxidation of Ibuprofen and Its Voltammetric Determination at a Boron‐Doped Diamond Electrode

The electrochemical oxidation of ibuprofen at a boron‐doped diamond electrode (BDDE) and its voltammetric determination is reported for the first time. A well‐defined oxidation peak was observed at around 1.6 V in 0.1 mol L^?1 H₂SO₄ solution with 10 % (v/v) ethanol at the BDDE surface activated by either cathodic or anodic pretreatments. A differential‐pulse voltammetric method for the determination of ibuprofen in pharmaceutical formulations was optimized with a detection limit of 5 µmol L^?1 and compared with the British Pharmacopeia method.     

Development and Validation of Kinetic Spectrophotometric Method for the Determination of Losartan Potassium in Pure and Commercial Tablets

A validated kinetic spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of losartan potassium in pure and dosage forms. The method is based on oxidation of the losartan potassium with alkaline potassium permanganate at room temperature (25 ± 1 °C). The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the increase in absorbance with time at 603 nm, and the initial rate, fixed time (at 12.0 min) and equilibrium time (at 90.0 min) methods are adopted for constructing the calibration graphs. All the calibration graphs are linear in the concentration range of 7.5–60.0 μg mL^?1 and the calibration data resulted in the linear regression equations of n? = ?6.422 × 10^?7 + 1.173 × 10^?5 C, A =3.30 × 10^?4 + 5.28 × 10^?3 C and A = ?2.09 × 10^?2 + 1.05 × 10^?1 C for initial‐rate, fixed time and equilibrium time methods, respectively. The limits of detection for initial rate, fixed time and equilibrium time methods are 0.71, 0.21 and 0.19 μg mL^?1, respectively. The activation parameters such as E_a, ΔH^?, ΔS^?, and ΔG^? are also determined for the reaction and found to be 87.34 KJ mol^?1, 84.86 KJ mol^?1, 50.96 JK^?1 mol^?1 and ?15.10 KJ mol^?1, respectively. The variables are optimized and the proposed methods are validated as per ICH guidelines. The method has been applied successfully to the estimation of losartan potassium in commercial tablets. The performance of the proposed methods was judged by calculating paired t‐ and F‐ values. The analytical results of the proposed methods when compared with those of the reference method show no significant difference in accuracy and precision and have acceptable bias.     

Square‐Wave Voltammetry Determination of Aspartame in Dietary Products Using a Boron‐Doped Diamond Electrode

Abstract

The use of square‐wave voltammetry in conjunction with a cathodically pretreated boron‐doped diamond electrode for the analytical determination of aspartame in dietary products is described. In this determination, the samples were analyzed without previous treatment in a 0.5 mol l^?1 H₂SO₄ solution. A single oxidation peak at a potential of 1.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl (3.0 mol l^?1 KCl) with the characteristics of an irreversible reaction was obtained. The analytical curve was linear in the aspartame concentration range 9.9×10^?6 to 5.2×10^?5 mol l^?1 with a detection limit of 2.3×10^?7 mol l^?1. The relative standard deviation (n=5) obtained was smaller than 0.2% for the 1.0×10^?4 mol l^?1 aspartame solution. The proposed method was applied with success to the determination of aspartame in several dietary products and the results were similar to those obtained using an HPLC method at 95% confidence level.     

Bioelectroanalytical Determination of Rutin Based on bi‐Enzymatic Sensor Containing Iridium Nanoparticles in Ionic Liquid Phase Supported in Clay

A matrix comprising iridium nanoparticles and 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid (Ir‐BMI.BF₄) supported in montmorillonite (MMT) was obtained through an efficient incorporation process. This modified clay matrix (Ir‐BMI.BF₄‐MMT) was used for the immobilization of the enzymes laccase (LAC) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and employed in the construction of a bi‐enzymatic biosensor for determination of rutin by square‐wave voltammetry. Under optimized conditions, the analytical curve showed a linear range for rutin concentrations from 9.17×10^?8 to 3.10×10^?6 mol L^?1 with a detection limit of 3.09×10^?8 mol L^?1. The method was successfully applied to the determination of rutin content in pharmaceutical samples.     

Voltammetric Determination of BHT Antioxidant at Gold Electrode in Biodiesel

The voltammetric determination of synthetic antioxidant 2,6‐di‐tert‐butyl‐4‐methylphenole (BHT) was studied using linear‐sweep voltammetry (LSV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) with a gold electrode and performed in isopropanol media containing either 0.1 mol L^?1 H₂SO₄ or 0.1 mol L^?1 LiClO₄ as supporting electrolyte. The results obtained have revealed that the most reliable detection was acquired in acidic media (isopropanol–H₂SO₄) whereas the use of isopropanol? LiClO₄ solution exhibited poorer reproducibility due to possible passivation of the electrode. Real samples of biodiesel mixture were analyzed without any special sample treatment or separation and results were compared with those obtained by FTIR‐spectroscopy.     

Simultaneous Determination of Dopamine and Ascorbic Acid Using the Nano‐Gold Self‐Assembled Glassy Carbon Electrode

Electrochemical behavior of dopamine (DA) was investigated at the gold nanoparticles self‐assembled glassy carbon electrode (GNP/LC/GCE), which was fabricated by self‐assembling gold nanoparticles on the surface of L ‐cysteine (LC) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) via successive cyclic voltammetry (CV). A pair of well‐defined redox peaks of DA on the GNP/LC/GCE was obtained at E_pa=0.197 V and E_pc=0.146 V, respectively. And the peak separation between DA and AA is about 0.2 V, which is enough for simultaneous determination of DA and AA. The peak currents of DA and AA were proportional with their concentrations in the range of 6.0×10^?8–8.5×10^?5 mol L^?1 and 1.0×10^?6–2.5×10^?3 mol L^?1, with the detection limit of 2.0×10^?8 mol L^?1 and 3.0×10^?7 mol L^?1 (S/N=3), respectively. The modified electrode exhibits an excellent reproducibility, sensibility and stability for simultaneous determination of DA and AA in human serum with satisfactory result.     

Determination of Trace Amounts of Vanadium by Kinetic-Catalytic Spectrophotometric Methods

Kinetic-catalytic spectrophotometric methods were proposed for the determination of trace amounts of vanadium element as vanadium（Ⅳ） and/or V（Ⅴ） ions. The vanadium（Ⅳ） as VO^2＋ ion and/or vanadium（Ⅴ） as VO3^- ion showed a catalytic effect on the kinetic reactions between a color reagent such as methylthymol blue （MTB） or SPADNS and bromate in acidic media. The rate of decrease in the absorbance of the reagent MTB at 440 nm or SPADNS at 510 nm was proportional to concentration of V（Ⅳ） and/or V（Ⅴ） ions in the solution. The linear ranges for determination of vanadium were obtained in the range of 1.0-150 and 5.0-100.0 μg/L by the fixed-time and slope methods, respectively, with using MTB as reagent. In the presence of SPADNS as reagent, the calibration curves were made in the amplitude 1.0-200.0 and 5.0-150 μg/L of vanadium ion by the fixed-time and slope methods, respectively. Using fixed-time method, the limits of detection were obtained to be 0.5 and 0.7 μg/L of vanadium in the presence of MTB and SPADNS as reagents, respectively. Detection limits of vanadium by slope method and reagents of SPADNS and MTB were obtained to be 3.5 and 3.8 μg/L of vanadium, respectively. The proposed methods were applied successfully to determination of vanadium in synthetic and real samples.     

Electroanalytical Determination of Carbaryl in Natural Waters on Boron Doped Diamond Electrode

The anodic voltammetric behavior of carbaryl on a boron‐doped diamond electrode in aqueous solution is reported. The results, obtained by square‐wave voltammetry at 0.1 mol L^?1 Na₂SO₄ and pH 6.0, allow the development of a method to determine carbaryl, without any previous step of extraction, clean‐up, preconcentration or derivatization, in the range 2.5–30.0×10^?6 mol L^?1, with a detection limit of 8.2±0.2 μg L^?1 in pure water. The analytical sensitivity of this electrochemical method diminished slightly, from 3.07 mA mmol^?1 L to 2.90 mA mmol^?1L, when the electrolyte was prepared with water samples collected from two polluted points in an urban creek. In these conditions, the recovery efficiencies obtained were around 104%. The effect of other pesticides (fenthion and 4‐nitrophenol) was evaluated and found to exert a negligible influence on carbaryl determination. The square‐wave voltammetric data obtained for carbaryl were typical of an irreversible electrode process with mass transport control. The combination of square‐wave voltammetry and diamond electrodes is an interesting and desirable alternative for analytical determinations.