Voltammetric determination of promethazine hydrochloride at a multi-wall carbon nanotube modified glassy carbon electrode

A simple and sensitive method is described for voltammetric determination of promethazine hydrochloride (PMZ), a widely used phenothiazine drug, based on its electrochemical oxidation at a multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Compared with bare GCE, the MWCNT-modified GCE exhibited excellent enhancement effect on the electrochemical oxidation of PMZ. PMZ yielded two anodic peaks at about 0.61 V and 0.78 V, and the peak at 0.61 V was applied to the determination. Under optimized conditions, the anodic peak current was linear to the concentration of PMZ in the range from 5.0 x 10(-8) to 4.0 x 10(-4) M with the detection limit of 1.0 x 10(-8) M. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 2.28% for 8.0 x 10(-6) M PMZ (n = 10). To further validate its possible application, the proposed method was successfully used for the quantification of PMZ in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids with satisfactory results. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.