Issue 2, 2024

Voltammetric methods for electrochemical characterization and quantification of artemether-based antimalarials

Abstract

Every year substandard and falsified (SF) artemisinin derivative-based antimalarials are responsible for the loss of 450 000 deaths and billions of GBP. The lack of infrastructure and funds to support pharmaceutical quality control in many low-and-middle-income countries contributes to this problem. This work assesses fitness for purpose of voltammetric methods for identification and quantification of artemether in the presence of excipients. Electrochemical characterization of artemether using cyclic voltammetry shows that the reduction of artemether is chemically irreversible within the potential range of −0.4 V to −1.4 V. A chronocoulometric quantification algorithm for artemether is created and tested with pure artemether, as well as filtered and unfiltered Riamet® tablets. Filtration of Riamet® tablets provides no additional benefit for the quantification of artemether in Riamet®. In addition, artemether's response to pH indicates possible protonation and coupled homogeneous chemistry. Finally, sodium sulfite is an effective means of removing dissolved oxygen and improving artemether signal resolution in air-equilibrated PBS. This concludes that electrochemical analysis is a promising method for artemether identification and quantification.

Graphical abstract: Voltammetric methods for electrochemical characterization and quantification of artemether-based antimalarials

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
17 Oct 2023
Accepted
24 Nov 2023
First published
13 Dec 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Anal. Methods, 2024,16, 161-169

Voltammetric methods for electrochemical characterization and quantification of artemether-based antimalarials

A. Hildebrand, M. Merchant and D. O'Hare, Anal. Methods, 2024, 16, 161 DOI: 10.1039/D3AY01837G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements