Electrooxidation of tetracycline antibiotic demeclocycline at unmodified boron-doped diamond electrode and its enhancement determination in surfactant-containing media

Abstract In this paper, for the first time, the study of voltammetric determination of tetracycline antibiotic demeclocycline was conducted. The oxidation of compound was investigated using a commercially available boron-doped diamond electrode pretreated electrochemically (anodic and subsequent cathodic). Addition of anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) and cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to the demeclocycline-containing electrolyte solution at pH 2.0 and 9.0, respectively, was found to improve the sensitivity of the stripping voltammetric measurements. Employing square-wave stripping mode (after 30 s accumulation at open-circuit condition) in Britton-Robinson buffer, the limits of detection were found to be 1.17 μg mL-1 (2.3×10-6 M) for 4×10-4 SDS-containing buffer solution at pH 2, and 0.24 μg mL-1 (4.8×10-7 M) for 1×10-4 CTAB-containing buffer solution at pH 9.0. The feasibility of the developed approach for the quantification of demeclocycline was tested in urine samples.