Rapid and sensitive electrochemical determination of codeine in pharmaceutical formulations and human urine using a boron-doped diamond film electrode

Abstract An unmodified boron-doped diamond film electrode was used for the first time as a sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor for the determination of codeine by the use of differential pulse voltammetry. Codeine provided a single well-defined oxidation peak at +1.0 V vs . Ag/AgCl in Britton-Robinson buffer solution at pH 7.0. Using the optimal differential pulse voltammetric conditions (modulation amplitude of 50 mV, modulation time of 40 ms and scan rate of 50 mV s −1 ), the detection limit of 0.08 μM, the linear response of peak current on codeine concentration in the range from 0.1 to 60 μM ( R 2  = 0.998, n  = 6) and relative standard deviation of 0.9% at 10 μM concentration level ( n  = 10) were achieved without any electrode surface modification. The influence of potential interfering agents on the current response was also studied and the results indicated that the proposed method was sufficiently selective. The method was successfully applied in the determination of codeine in real samples including pharmaceutical tablets and human urine with results similar to those declared by manufacturer and obtained by reference high-performance liquid chromatography method, respectively. The typical benefits of the method may be summarized as: rapidity (20 determinations per hour), sensitivity and selectivity, low cost and elaborateness, simplicity, wide linear concentration range, low detection limit and excellent repeatability. It might also represent the competitive alternative to the existing analytical methods in monitoring of drug abuse.