Investigation on voltammetric behavior of camptothecin and its analytical application

The voltammetric behavior of camptothecin (CPT) in Britton-Robinson (B-R) buffer solutions (pH 2.09-9.07) was studied by the means of linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and normal pulse voltammetry (NPV) at a hanging mercury drop electrode. In different pH range of B-R buffer solutions, CPT could cause three reduction waves. In B-R buffer solutions (pH 2.09-5.46), wave P, yielded by CPT was a two-electron wave. Between pH 6.01 and 9.07, CPT could yield two reduction waves P-2 and P-3. In addition, the pure CPT obtained from camptotheca acumina grown only in China was determined by NPV, and a linear response was observed in the range of 2.0 X 10(-3)-4.0 X 10(-2) mmol(.)L(-1) with a 0.9991 correlation coefficient and a 8.0 X 10(-4) mmol(.)L(-1) detection limit for CPT.