Electrochemical determination of sertraline in pharmaceutical formulation and serum using a gold electrode in a pH 8.4 bicarbonate solution

The electrochemical characterization of sertraline at gold electrode was examined by cyclic voltammetry measurements (CV) in pH 8.4 bicarbonate buffer. Then Au electrode was evaluated for the quantitative determination of sertraline using square wave voltammetry (SWV). To enhance the sensitivity during the drug determination, (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) and β-cyclodextrin (βCD) inclusion complexes were employed. Using the proposed SWV technique, the anodic current peak was linear within a concentration range of 0.1–0.5 µM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 2.0 × 10^–8 M and a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 6.7 × 10^–8 M. In the case of inclusion complex of the sertraline with HPβCD, a good linearity range of 0.1–0.9 µM was obtained with a LOD of 2.6 × 10^–8 M and a LOQ of 8.8 × 10^–8 M. The gold electrode revealed the same linearity range for inclusion complex of the sertraline with βCD with a LOD and a LOQ being 2.6 × 10^–8 and 8.6 × 10^–8 M, respectively. Comparing the regression equations, it can be concluded that the sensitivity in the presence of inclusion complex can be up to 5 times higher. The applicability of the developed method was confirmed by the analysis of this drug in pharmaceutical formulation and in human serum spiked with sertraline standard. The comparison to HPLC method was successfully performed. Graphic abstract: