Electrochemical determination of acetaminophen in different pharmaceutical forms with gold nanoparticles carbon paste electrode.

The electrochemical behavior of acetaminophen on a gold nanoparticles (nAu) carbon paste electrode (CPE) was investigated. Cyclic voltammograms of acetaminophen with nAu-CPE exhibited two well defined redox waves for anodic and cathodic peak, respectively. The oxidation reaction of acetaminophen was studied with differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The oxidation of acetaminophen occurs at 405 and 440 mV by DPV and SWV, respectively. Under the optimum pH of 4.7 in 0.1 mol l-1 Britton-Robinson (B-R) buffer solution, the DPV anodic peak current showed a linear relation versus acetaminophen concentration in the range of 5.0 × 10-8 -1.0 × 10-4 mol l-1 with a detection limit of 2.6 × 10-8 for DPV, and from 9.0 × 10-7 - 1.0 × 10-4 mol l-1 for SWV with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10-7. The performance of this modified electrode was verified by the determination of acetaminophen in dosage form tablet. The result obtained in the recovery study was comparable to its labeled.