Carbon nanotube disposable detectors in microchip capillary electrophoresis for water-soluble vitamin determination: analytical possibilities in pharmaceutical quality control.

In this work, the synergy of one mature example from "lab-on-chip" domain, such as CE microchips with emerging miniaturized carbon nanotube detectors in analytical science, is presented. Two different carbon electrodes (glassy carbon electrode (GCE) 3 mm diameter, and screen-printed electrode (SPE) 0.3 mm x 2.5 mm) were modified with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and their electrochemical behavior was evaluated as detectors in CE microchip using water-soluble vitamins (pyridoxine, ascorbic acid, and folic acid) in pharmaceutical preparations as representative examples. The SPE modified with MWCNT was the best electrode for the vitamin analysis in terms of analytical performance. In addition, accurate determination of the three vitamins in four different pharmaceuticals was obtained (systematic error less than 9%) in only 400 s using a protocol that combined the sample analysis and the methodological calibration.