Electrochemical Derivatization of Acetaminophen for Indirect Determination of Eflornithine Using β‐CD Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode

Abstract

AbstractIn the present work, the oxidation of acetaminophen in the absence and presence of eflornithine was electrochemically investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Our results indicate that N‐acetyl‐p‐benzoquinone imine (NAPQI) produced from two‐electron electrochemical oxidation of acetaminophen participates in a Michael addition reaction with eflornithine via an ECE mechanism. This fact was used for the determination of eflornithine using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) technique on the surface of β‐Cyclodextrin modified glassy carbon (β‐CD/GC) electrode. β‐CD/GC electrode was prepared through an electrodeposition procedure and characterized by Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques. Under optimum conditions, the β‐CD/GC electrode showed a good linearity as a function of the eflornithine concentration over the range from 5 to 100 μM with detection limit and quantification limit of 1.94 and 5.8 μM, respectively. Finally, the proposed protocol was confirmed to be successful in determination of eflornithine in human urine samples with good recovery, ranging from 97.2 % to 104.8 %.