Determination of Atorvastatin with Voltammetric Sensors Based on Nanomaterials

This paper presents an accurate and fast electrochemical method for atorvastatin determination in pharmaceutical products. Two screen-printed sensors, one-carbon based (SPCE) and one based on carbon nanotubes and gold nanoparticles (AuNP-CNT/SPCE) were used during the electrochemical analyses. At all experimental stages, cyclic voltammetry was employed, both for the characterization of the sensors and their electrochemical behavior, and for quantitative determinations. AuNP-CNT/SPCE has showed an extended active area, higher intensity peaks, better reversibility and lower background current than the unmodified sensor. For atorvastatin quantification, a calibration curve has been developed within the 1.2-606.25 mu M concentration range. A linearity relation between the current of the anodic peak and concentration has been obtained in the range 1.2-53.33 mu M for both sensors. With the AuNP-CNT/SPCE sensor, low values of limit of detection, LOD (1.92 x 10(-7) M) and limit of quantification, LOQ (6.39 x 10(-7) M) have been obtained, which demonstrates the feasibility of the method of determining atorvastatin from real samples. Atorvastatin amount has been successfully determined from pharmaceutical products using AuNP-CNT/SPCE. The results were similar to the manufacturer's specifications regarding the dosage per tablet and to the concentrations obtained by applying the FTIR spectrometric method.

Automated summary

A new electrochemical method utilizing two different screen-printed sensors for accurate and fast determination of atorvastatin in pharmaceutical products was developed. The AuNP-CNT/SPCE sensor showed improved performance compared to the unmodified sensor, demonstrating feasibility in determining atorvastatin from real samples and pharmaceutical products. The results were consistent with manufacturer's specifications and FTIR spectrometric method.