Adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination of netilmicin in the presence of formaldehyde

A linear sweep adsorptive stripping voltammetric method for the determination of netilmicin in the presence of formaldehyde has been proposed for the first time. In the presence of 3.0×10⁻³ g ml⁻¹ formaldehyde, netilmicin exhibits a sensitive cathodic peak at −1.30 V (vs. the saturated calomel electrode, SCE) in a medium of Britton–Robinson buffer (pH 8.7) with a scan rate of 100 mV s⁻¹ after a preconcentration period of 120 s at −1.10 V (vs. SCE). The peak current showed a linear dependence on the netilmicin concentration over the range 4.2×10⁻⁹–1.0×10⁻⁷ g ml⁻¹. The achieved limits of detection and quantitation were 1.0×10⁻¹⁰ and 3.3×10⁻¹⁰ g ml⁻¹ netilmicin, respectively. It was deduced from the experiments that the amine–aldehyde condensation product formed between netilmicin and formaldehyde is mainly responsible for the appearance of the peak. The electrochemical behavior of netilmicin in the presence of formaldehyde has been studied. The method was applied to the direct determination of netilmicin in injectable formulations and spiked human urine and serum samples.