Eco-friendly monitoring of triclosan as an emerging antimicrobial environmental contaminant utilizing electrochemical sensors modified with CNTs nanocomposite transducer layer

Environmental appearance of antimicrobials due to frequent use of personal care products as recommended by WHO can cause serious flare-up of antimicrobial resistance. In this work, three eco-friendly microfabricated copper solid-state sensors were developed for measuring triclosan in water. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes were incorporated in sensor 2 and 3 as hydrophobic conductive inner layer. Meanwhile, β-cyclodextrin was incorporated in sensor 3 as an ionophore for selective binding of TCS in presence of interfering compounds. The obtained linear responses of sensors 1, 2 and 3 were (1 × 10- 8-1 × 10- 3 M), (1 × 10- 9-1 × 10- 3 M) and (1 × 10- 10- 1 × 10- 3 M), respectively. Limit of detection was 9.87 × 10- 9 M, 9.62 × 10- 10 M, and 9.94 × 10- 11 M, respectively. The miniaturized sensors were utilized for monitoring of triclosan in water samples.

A comparative study of green solid contact ion selective electrodes for the potentiometric determination of Letrozole in dosage form and human plasma

Analysis of drugs clinically and their identification in biological samples are of utmost importance in the process of therapeutic drug monitoring, also in pharmacokinetic investigations and tracking of illicit medications. These investigations are carried out using a variety of analytical methods, including potentiometric electrodes. Potentiometric electrodes are a wonderful solution for researchers because they outperform other methods in terms of sustainability, greenness, and cost effectiveness. In the current study, ion-selective potentiometric sensors were assembled for the aim of quantification of the anticancer drug Letrozole (LTZ). The first step was fabrication of a conventional sensor based on the formation of stable host-guest inclusion complex between the cationic drug and 4-tert-butylcalix-8-arene (TBCAX-8). Two additional sensors were prepared through membrane modification with graphene nanocomposite (GNC) and polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles. Linear responses of 1.00 × 10-5-1.00 × 10-2, 1.00 × 10-6-1.00 × 10-2 and 1.00 × 10-8-1.00 × 10-3 with sub-Nernstian slopes of 19.90, 20.10 and 20.30 mV/decade were obtained for TBCAX-8, GNC, and PANI sensors; respectively. The developed sensors were successful in determining the drug LTZ in bulk powder and dosage form. PANI modified sensor was used to determine LTZ in human plasma with recoveries ranging from 88.00 to 96.30%. IUPAC recommendations were followed during the evaluation of the electrical performance of the developed sensors. Experimental conditions as temperature and pH were studied and optimized. Analytical Eco-scale and Analytical GREEness metric were adopted as the method greenness assessment tools.

Point-of-care diagnostics for rapid determination of prostate cancer biomarker sarcosine: application of disposable potentiometric sensor based on oxide-conductive polymer nanocomposite

One of the most important reasons for an increased mortality rate of cancer is late diagnosis. Point-of-care (POC) diagnostic sensors can provide rapid and cost-effective diagnosis and monitoring of cancer biomarkers. Portable, disposable, and sensitive sarcosine solid-contact ion-selective potentiometric sensors (SC-ISEs) were fabricated as POC analyzers for the rapid determination of the prostate cancer biomarker sarcosine. Tungsten trioxide nanoparticles (WO3 NPs), polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI NPs), and PANI-WO3 nanocomposite were used as ion-to-electron transducers on screen-printed sensors. WO3 NPs and PANI-WO3 nanocomposite have not been investigated before as ion-to-electron transducer layers in potentiometric SC sensors. The designated sensors were characterized using SEM, XRD, FTIR, UV-VIS spectroscopy, and EIS. The inclusion of WO3 and PANI in SC sensors enhanced the transduction at the interface between the screen-printed SC and the ion-selective membrane, offering lower potential drift, a longer lifetime, shorter response time, and better sensitivity. The proposed sarcosine sensors exhibited Nernstian slopes over linear response ranges 10-3-10-7 M, 10-3-10-8 M, 10-5-10-9 M, and 10-7-10-12 M for control, WO3 NPs, PANI NPs, and PANI-WO3 nanocomposite-based sensors, respectively. From a comparative point of view between the four sensors, PANI-WO3 nanocomposite inclusion offered the lowest potential drift (0.5 mV h-1), the longest lifetime (4 months), and the best LOD (9.95 × 10-13 M). The proposed sensors were successfully applied to determine sarcosine as a potential prostate cancer biomarker in urine without prior sample treatment steps. The WHO ASSURED criteria for point-of-care diagnostics are met by the proposed sensors.

Sensitive Derivative Synchronous and Micellar Enhanced Ecofriendly Spectrofluorimetric Methods for the Determination of Atenolol, Diclofenac, and Triclosan in Drinking Tap Water

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, emergence of unexpected contaminants in drinking water is a challenging environmental problem facing humanity.

OBJECTIVE

Two eco-friendly spectrofluorimetric methods were proposed for the determination of three unexpected contaminants in drinking tap water.

METHODS

The first method is first derivative synchronous spectrofluorimetric method which was developed for simultaneous determination of atenolol (ATN) and diclofenac (DCF) without prior separation at Δλ = 70 nm and at Δλ = 80 nm for ATN and DCF, respectively. The second method was based on using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as fluorescent enhancer of triclosan (TCS) native fluorescence. TCS exhibits enhanced fluorescence at λ emission = 600 nm upon excitation at λ excitation = 299.4 nm. Solid phase extraction was carried out in both methods.

RESULTS

Linear calibration curves were obtained in concentration range of (4-3000 ng/mL) for ATN and (4-2000 ng/mL) for DCF, by measuring first derivative signal of fluorescence at 300 nm and 375.2 nm, respectively. TCS exhibits linear range (0.1-1 ng/mL) at 600 nm. Mean percentage recoveries were 101.04 ± 0.571, 99.66 ± 1.443, and 99.73 ± 0.566 for ATN, DCF, and TCS, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Validation of both methods were performed according to the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. Results obtained were statistically compared with published methods and no significant differences were found. The proposed methods' greenness is evaluated using analytical Eco-scale and Green Analytical Procedure Index. A greenness comparison with previously published methods has been performed.

HIGHLIGHTS

Both methods were found to be eco-friendly and were successfully applied for the determination of the emerging contaminants in drinking tap water.

In situ monitoring of triclosan in environmental water with subnanomolar detection limits using eco-friendly electrochemical sensors modified with cyclodextrins

The environmental emergence of unexpected contaminants has gained the attention of the scientific community. A broad spectrum antimicrobial compound named triclosan (TCS) was detected in the environment as an emerging contaminant. Owing to its inherent toxicity, we have proposed eco-friendly potentiometric liquid state sensors to be used for monitoring and quantifying TCS in environmental water samples. The proposed sensors have been optimized by modifying the inner filling solution using hydrophilic 2-hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin as a complexing agent to be capable of minimizing the trans-membrane ion flux and hence improving the selective and sensitive determination of TCS in environmental matrices with low LOD values. The obtained linear response of the optimized sensor was (1 × 10^-9 to 1 × 10^-5 M) compared to the control sensor (1 × 10^-8 to 1 × 10^-4 M). The obtained limit of detection (LOD) value was found to be 9.86 × 10^-10 M compared to 9.78 × 10^-9 M of the control sensor. The modification of the inner filling solution of the sensor with 2-hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin improves not only its sensitivity but also its response time to be only 5 seconds. The electrical performance of the proposed sensor was evaluated following IUPAC recommendations. Both the pH and temperature effects were studied and optimized. Two different greenness assessment tools, Analytical Eco-scale and Green Procedure Index, were adopted upon the evaluation of the proposed sensors' greenness.

Liquid chromatographic and spectrofluorimetric assays of empagliflozin: Applied to degradation kinetic study and content uniformity testing

Stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and spectrofluorimetric methods were developed for determination of empagliflozin (EGF). EGF was subjected to oxidation, wet heat, photo-degradation, acid hydrolysis and alkali hydrolysis. The alkaline degradation pathway was subjected to a kinetics study as the major product obtained after stress conditions. Arrhenius plots were constructed and the activation energies of the degradation process were calculated. HPLC was used for the kinetic study as it enabled simultaneous determination of EGF and the degradation product while the spectrofluorimetric assay was applied to content uniformity testing due to its higher sensitivity and lower limit of detection (LOD). Isocratic chromatographic elution was attained for HPLC on a Intersil® C₁₈ column (150 mm × 4 mm, 5 μm), using a mobile phase of acetonitrile-potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer pH 4, (50:50, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min with ultraviolet (UV) detection at 225 nm. The relative fluorescence intensity was recorded by spectrofluorimeter applying synchronous mode using ∆λ = 70 nm at 297.6 nm. Linearity ranges were found to be 5-50 μg/ml and 50-1000 ng/ml for HPLC and spectrofluorimetric methods, respectively.

Enhanced LC-MS/MS analysis of alogliptin and pioglitazone in human plasma: Applied to a preliminary pharmacokinetic study

A new fast LC-MS/MS method was developed for determination of alogliptin and pioglitazone in human plasma. Linearity ranges of 10-400ngmL^-1 for alogliptin and 25-2000ngmL^-1 for pioglitazone, were found to be suitable for their bioanalysis covering the C_min and C_max values of the drugs. Direct precipitation technique was used for simultaneous extraction of the drugs successfully from human plasma samples. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a BEH C₁₈ column (50mm×2.1mm, 1.7μm) with 0.1% aqueous formic acid: acetonitrile (40:60, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3mLmin^-1. The validated method was applied to a preliminary pharmacokinetic study on human volunteers. Monitoring the transition pairs of m/z 340.18 to 116.08 for alogliptin and m/z 356.99 to 133.92 for pioglitazone, using triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with multiple reaction monitoring, was achieved in the positive mode. The validated method is accurate and suitable for further clinical applications and possible bioequivalence studies.

Comparative Study Between Multivariate and Univariate Analysis of Two Antidiabetic Combinations

New multivariate and univariate methods were developed for the analysis of two novel gliptin combinations by manipulating the zero-order and ratio spectra of empagliflozin and linagliptin in combination, with application on Glyxambi® tablets, and of alogliptin and pioglitazone in combination, with application on Oseni® tablets. Linearity ranges for chemometric approaches using principal component regression and partial least-squares were found to be 2-10, 2.5-12.5, 5-15, and 5-25 μg/mL for empagliflozin, linagliptin, alogliptin, and pioglitazone, respectively, whereas the respective linearity ranges for the spectrophotometric approaches were found to be 5-15, 2-12, 5-15, and 5-15 μg/mL. The proposed spectrophotometric methods included ratio subtraction coupled with extended ratio subtraction, spectrum subtraction coupled with constant multiplication, and mean centering. Acceptable LOD and LOQ values were obtained by all methods. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between multivariate and univariate methods in comparison with the reference methods. The optimized methods provide fast and economic determination of the recently approved antidiabetic combinations without the complex instrumentation or time-consuming mobile phase preparations that were used in the chromatographic techniques reported in the literature.

Investigation of different spectrophotometric and chemometric methods for determination of entacapone, levodopa and carbidopa in ternary mixture

New, simple, accurate and sensitive UV spectrophotometric and chemometric methods have been developed and validated for determination of Entacapone (ENT), Levodopa (LD) and Carbidopa (CD) in ternary mixture. Method A is a derivative ratio spectra zero-crossing spectrophotometric method which allows the determination of ENT in the presence of both LD and CD by measuring the peak amplitude at 249.9nm in the range of 1-20μgmL^-1. Method B is a double divisor-first derivative of ratio spectra method, used for determination of ENT, LD and CD at 245, 239 and 293nm, respectively. Method C is a mean centering of ratio spectra which allows their determination at 241, 241.6 and 257.1nm, respectively. Methods B and C could successfully determine the studied drugs in concentration ranges of 1-20μgmL^-1 for ENT and 10-90μgmL^-1 for both LD and CD. Methods D and E are principal component regression and partial least-squares, respectively, used for the simultaneous determination of the studied drugs by using seventeen mixtures as calibration set and eight mixtures as validation set. The developed methods have the advantage of simultaneous determination of the cited components without any pre-treatment. All the results were statistically compared with the reported methods, where no significant difference was observed. The developed methods were satisfactorily applied to the analysis of the investigated drugs in their pure form and in pharmaceutical dosage forms.

Novel potentiometric sensors for the determination of the dinotefuran insecticide residue levels in cucumber and soil samples

Five new potentiometric membrane sensors for the determination of the dinotefuran levels in cucumber and soil samples have been developed. Four of these sensors were based on a newly designed molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) material consisting of acrylamide or methacrylic acid as a functional monomer in a plasticized PVC (polyvinyl chloride) membrane before and after elution of the template. A fifth sensor, a carboxylated PVC-based sensor plasticized with dioctyl phthalate, was also prepared and tested. Sensor 1 (acrylamide washed) and sensor 3 (methacrylic acid washed) exhibited significantly enhanced responses towards dinotefuran over the concentration range of 10^-7-10^-2molL^-1. The limit of detection (LOD) for both sensors was 0.35µgL^-1. The response was near-Nernstian, with average slopes of 66.3 and 50.8mV/decade for sensors 1 and 3 respectively. Sensors 2 (acrylamide non-washed), 4 (methacrylic acid non-washed) and 5 (carboxylated-PVC) exhibited non-Nernstian responses over the concentration range of 10^-7-10^-3molL^-1, with LODs of 10.07, 6.90, and 4.30µgL^-1, respectively, as well as average slopes of 39.1, 27.2 and 33mV/decade, respectively. The application of the proposed sensors to the determination of the dinotefuran levels in spiked soil and cucumber samples was demonstrated. The average recoveries from the cucumber samples were from 7.93% to 106.43%, with a standard deviation of less than 13.73%, and recoveries from soil samples were from 97.46% to 108.71%, with a standard deviation of less than 10.66%. The sensors were applied successfully to the determination of the dinotefuran residue, its rate of disappearance and its half-life in cucumbers in soil in which a safety pre-harvest interval for dinotefuran was suggested.

Multiresidue Analysis of Five Neonicotinoid Insecticides and Their Primary Metabolite in Cucumbers and Soil Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode-Array Detection

A sensitive, selective, and validated HPLC-diode-array detection method was developed for the simultaneous determination of five neonicotinoid insecticides-acetamiprid, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, flonicamid, and thiacloprid-and their primary metabolite, 6-chloronicotinic acid, in cucumbers and soil based on the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) technique as a pretreatment procedure. In the QuEChERS procedure, cucumber samples were extracted with acetonitrile and cleaned using C18, whereas soil samples were extracted with an acetonitrile-dichloromethane mixture (1 + 2). The HPLC conditions were optimized by separating neonicotinoids using an acetonitrile-water mixture (25 + 75) and a Synergi Hydro RP C18 column. Matrix-matched calibration standards were prepared in cucumber and soil to eliminate any matrix interference. RSDs were ≤9% in all recovery tests. LODs and LOQs for the five neonicotinoids were in the ranges of 0.006-0.122 and 0.018-0.366 μg/g, respectively. This method was successfully applied to determine residues, the rate of disappearance of the five neonicotinoids from cucumber and soil, and the half-lives of the neonicotinoids.

Validation of four different spectrophotometric methods for simultaneous determination of Domperidone and Ranitidine in bulk and pharmaceutical formulation

Four simple, specific, accurate and precise spectrophotometric methods were developed and validated for simultaneous determination of Domperidone (DP) and Ranitidine Hydrochloride (RT) in bulk powder and pharmaceutical formulation. The first method was simultaneous ratio subtraction (SRS), the second was ratio subtraction (RS) coupled with zero order spectrophotometry (D(0)), the third was first derivative of the ratio spectra ((1)DD) and the fourth method was mean centering of ratio spectra (MCR). The calibration curve is linear over the concentration range of 0.5-5 and 1-45 μg mL(-1) for DP and RT, respectively. The proposed spectrophotometric methods can analyze both drugs without any prior separation steps. The selectivity of the adopted methods was tested by analyzing synthetic mixtures of the investigated drugs, also in their pharmaceutical formulation. The suggested methods were validated according to International Conference of Harmonization (ICH) guidelines and the results revealed that; they were precise and reproducible. All the obtained results were statistically compared with those of the reported method, where there was no significant difference.

Application of Savitzky-Golay differentiation filters and Fourier functions to simultaneous determination of cefepime and the co-administered drug, levofloxacin, in spiked human plasma

The present work is concerned with simultaneous determination of cefepime (CEF) and the co-administered drug, levofloxacin (LEV), in spiked human plasma by applying a new approach, Savitzky-Golay differentiation filters, and combined trigonometric Fourier functions to their ratio spectra. The different parameters associated with the calculation of Savitzky-Golay and Fourier coefficients were optimized. The proposed methods were validated and applied for determination of the two drugs in laboratory prepared mixtures and spiked human plasma. The results were statistically compared with reported HPLC methods and were found accurate and precise.

Validation of different spectrophotometric methods for determination of vildagliptin and metformin in binary mixture

New, simple, specific, accurate, precise and reproducible spectrophotometric methods have been developed and subsequently validated for determination of vildagliptin (VLG) and metformin (MET) in binary mixture. Zero order spectrophotometric method was the first method used for determination of MET in the range of 2-12 μg mL(-1) by measuring the absorbance at 237.6 nm. The second method was derivative spectrophotometric technique; utilized for determination of MET at 247.4 nm, in the range of 1-12 μg mL(-1). Derivative ratio spectrophotometric method was the third technique; used for determination of VLG in the range of 4-24 μg mL(-1) at 265.8 nm. Fourth and fifth methods adopted for determination of VLG in the range of 4-24 μg mL(-1); were ratio subtraction and mean centering spectrophotometric methods, respectively. All the results were statistically compared with the reported methods, using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The developed methods were satisfactorily applied to analysis of the investigated drugs and proved to be specific and accurate for quality control of them in pharmaceutical dosage forms.