Electrochemical determination of paracetamol in a pharmaceutical dose by adsorptive voltammetry with a carbon paste/La₂O₃microcomposite

Abstract

This paper presents a new application for microcomposites based on carbon paste (CP) and La2O3 (LaOX). This simple and versatile microcomposite (LaOX/CPE) was applied toward the determination of paracetamol (PCM) through proton oxidation by square wave adsorptive voltammetry (SWAdV). The anodic peak current for PCM increased by nearly 70.0% compared with an unmodified CP, and the detection limit was 0.020 μmol L-1. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 1.0% (n = 7). The accuracy of the new method was evaluated with tap water spiked with known quantities of PCM, while ascorbic acid, caffeine, and acetylsalicylic acid were used for interference studies. Finally, the usefulness of the microcomposite was shown to have acceptable results when applied to detect and quantify PCM in various forms of a pharmaceutical dose, such as solid tablets, fruit-flavored powders for colds and syrups for children.