Sub-second FFT Continuous Stripping Cyclic Voltammetric Technique as a Novel Method for Pico-level Monitoring of Imipramine at Au Microelectrode in Flowing Solutions

Center of excellence in electrochemistry, Faculty of chemistry, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Absrtract
A novel method for the determination of imipramine in flow-injection systems has been developed. The method was used for the fast determination of imipramine in its pharmaceutical formulations and biological samples. The developed technique is very simple, precise, accurate, time saving and economic as compared to all previously reported methods. The effects of various parameters on the sensitivity of the method were investigated. The best performance was obtained with the conditions, pH value of 2.0, and sweep rate value of 60 V s^-1, accumulation potential of 100 mV and accumulation time of 0.5s. In this work, we introduce a special computer based numerical method, for calculation of the analyte signal and noise reduction. The electrode response was calculated based on partial and total charge exchanges at the electrode surface after subtracting the background current from noise. The waveform potential consisting of potential steps for cleaning and accumulation of analyte, and potential ramp was applied on an Au disk microelectrode (with a radius of 12.5 mm). The method was linear over the concentration range of 14 – 22400 pg mL^-1 (r = 0.999) with a limit of detection and quantitation 4.55 and 14 pg mL^-1, respectively. The method has the requisite accuracy, sensitivity, precision and selectivity to assay imipramine in tablets

Keywords: imipramine, antidepressant, continuous stripping, cyclic voltammetry