Disposable gold nanoparticle functionalized and bare screen-printed electrodes for potentiometric determination of trazodone hydrochloride in pure form and pharmaceutical preparations

Abstract

In the present study, screen-printed electrodes unmodified and chemically modified with gold nanoparticles were used as sensitive electrochemical sensors for the determination of trazodone hydrochloride. The sensors were based on the use of a tetraphenylborate ion association complex as an electroactive material in screen-printed electrodes with dioctyl phthalate (DOP) as a solvent mediator modified with gold nanoparticles which improve the electrode conductivity and enhance the surface area. The sensors displayed a stable response for 5, 6 and 7 months with a reproducible potential and linear response over the concentration range 1 × 10⁻⁵–1 × 10⁻² mol L⁻¹ at 25 ± 1 °C with Nernstian slopes of 57.50 ± 0.66, 58.30 ± 0.45 and 59.05 ± 0.58 mV per decade and detection limits of 7.9 × 10⁻⁶, 7.6 × 10⁻⁶ and 6.8 × 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹ for sensor 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The analytical performance of the screen printed electrodes in terms of selectivity coefficients for trazodone hydrochloride relative to the number of potentially interfering substances was investigated. The proposed method has been applied successfully for the analysis of the drug in its pure and dosage forms and there is no interference from any common pharmaceutical additives.