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An electrochemical sensor for the voltammetric determination of artemisinin based on carbon materials and cobalt phthalocyanine

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Abstract

An electrochemical sensor for the determination of artemisinin has been developed based on a glassy carbon electrode modified with hybrid nanocomposites of cobalt phthalocyanine, graphene nanoplatelets, multi-walled carbon nanotubes and ionic liquids (IL). To improve the sensitivity and selectivity of the sensor, cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) was used as an effective redox mediator to promote and catalyze the artemisinin reduction. Furthermore, the graphene nanoplatelets and multi-walled carbon nanotubes were used as excellent conducting supporting materials to improve the sensitivity of the electrochemical sensor. Moreover, IL with a surface charge was also employed to prevent aggregation of the graphene nanoplatelets and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The analytical signal was generated from the reduction of Co(III)Pc generated by artemisinin. The proposed electrochemical sensor was applied to the detection of artemisinin using differential pulse voltammetry and provided a signal with wide linearity ranging from 1.5–60 μM and 60–600 μM and a detection limit of 0.70 μM (3SD/m). Furthermore, the proposed sensor displayed good repeatability and reproducibility of 2.9–3.0 and 3.1–4.4% RSD, respectively. Applications of the sensor to drug and plant samples demonstrated accuracy in a range of 105–116% recoveries. In addition, the results were in good agreement with those obtained from the HPLC method as a reference technique. Thus, the proposed electrochemical sensor provides a new alternative platform for sensitive and selective determination of artemisinin in the analysis of pharmaceuticals with good precision and accuracy.

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Funding

This work was supported by Science Achievement Scholarship of Thailand (SAST) from the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ubon Ratchathani University (Thailand). Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry (PERCH-CIC) and Office of the Higher Education Commission, Ministry of Education (OHEC) are also appreciative acknowledged. In particular, A.S. and K.K. would like to thank ASEAN-European Academic University Network (ASEA-UNINET), the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research and the Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science and Research (OeAD-GmbH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ubon Ratchathani University, Ubon Ratchathani, 34190, Thailand

    Chulalak Damphathik, Kanjana Kunpatee, Juthamas Jitcharoen & Anchalee Samphao

  2. National Nanotechnology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand

    Preeyanut Butmee

  3. Institute of Chemistry-Analytical Chemistry, University of Graz, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Kurt Kalcher

  4. Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Astrid Ortner

  5. Department of Chemistry, Worcester State University, 486 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA, 01602, USA

    Margaret Kerr

  6. Department of Chemistry and Center of Excellent for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ubon Ratchathani University, Ubon Ratchathani, 34190, Thailand

    Anchalee Samphao

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  1. Chulalak Damphathik
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  2. Preeyanut Butmee
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  3. Kanjana Kunpatee
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Correspondence to Anchalee Samphao.

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Damphathik, C., Butmee, P., Kunpatee, K. et al. An electrochemical sensor for the voltammetric determination of artemisinin based on carbon materials and cobalt phthalocyanine. Microchim Acta 189, 224 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-022-05257-x

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