Sensitive voltammetric determination of oxymetazoline hydrochloride at a disposable electrode

In this work, sensitive voltammetric determination of oxymetazoline based on its oxidation has been described at a cheap, disposable, and easily prepared pre-treated pencil graphite electrode. The recorded cyclic voltammograms proved that the oxidation response of oxymetazoline goes linearly in the concentration range between 0.25 and 500 µM. The limit of detection and sensitivity of the sensor were found as 0.08 µM and 256.0 µA mM⁻¹ cm⁻², respectively. The obtained results confirmed that applied pre-treatment procedure on pencil graphite electrode provides a high voltammetric response and sensitivity towards determination of oxymetazoline. The results (0.0496% ± 0.0003 oxymetazoline) from the real sample studies on a nasal drop (including 0.05% oxymetazoline) indicated that the designed sensor has a high potential for selective, accurate, and sensitive determination of oxymetazoline in pharmaceutical samples. Graphical abstract: