Forensic electrochemistry: Electrochemical study and quantification of xylazine in pharmaceutical and urine samples

Abstract

Xylazine is marketed as a veterinary drug and used for sedative and analgesic purposes; it is not approved for human use due to various side effects. In recent years, xylazine has emerged as a drug of abuse and has been associated with drug-facilitated sexual assaults. Herein, we describe, for the first time, the electrochemical study of xylazine in aqueous and organic media and proposed a quantification method using glassy carbon electrode. The simple and accurate quantification method was performed using differential pulse voltammetry. Under the optimized experimental conditions, a linear analytical curve was obtained for xylazine concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 256 μmol L−1, with an estimated detection limit of 120 nmol L−1. The proposed method was applied to determination of xylazine in pharmaceutical formulation. Furthermore, to forensic scenario, a standard addition technique on urine samples exhibited recovery values in the range of 93–103%, demonstrating the potentiality to forensic and clinical analysis of xylazine intoxication.