Natural deep eutectic solvent: A novelty alternative as multi-walled carbon nanotubes dispersing agent for the determination of paracetamol in urine

Abstract

This work reports for the first time the analytical performance of glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) modified with a dispersion of multi-wall carboxylated carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-COOH) using a mixture of a natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES - LGH/lactic acid-glucose-water), ethylene glycol (EG) and water (GCE/MWCNT-LGH-EG) for the determination and N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acetamide (paracetamol) (APAP) in urine samples. The optimization of both dispersion and measurement conditions was carried out using experimental design. The modified electrode exhibited enhanced current responses, demonstrating excellent electrochemical response towards APAP oxidation compared to MWCNTs-LGH, MWCNTs-EG, MWCNTs-H₂O-EtOH and MWCNTs-H₂O. The linear dependence between the anodic peak currents and the square root of scan rates over the range of 0.010-0.300 Vs^-1 demonstrates that the electro oxidation of APAP occurs under diffusional control. The MWCNT-LGH-EG modified GCE displayed an analytical sensitivity of 10.72 mL μg^-1 (r = 0.9994) and a detection limit of 100 ng mL^-1 for the selective determination of APAP in urine samples. The proposed electrochemical sensor was successfully applied for quantifying APAP in urine samples in the presence of uric acid. In addition, the accuracy and precision of the method was contrasted against a HPLC reference method.

Keywords: Electrochemical sensors; Experimental design; Multi-wall carboxylated carbon nanotubes; NADES; Paracetamol; Urine.