A sensitive determination of terbutaline in pharmaceuticals and urine samples using a composite electrode based on zirconium oxide nanoparticles.

An accurate and precise determination of terbutaline has been carried out using a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with a composite of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and nanoparticles of zirconium oxide (ZrO2NPs). Energy dispersive X-ray and scanning electron microscopic techniques were utilized for the characterization of the composite layer. Terbutaline exhibited a broad oxidation peak at 770mV on a GCE. However, MWCNTs/GCE presented an electrocatalytic effect toward the oxidation of terbutaline with a better anodic peak at 660mV. Furthermore, the electrochemical behavior of terbutaline has greatly been improved at a GCE modified with a composite of MWCNTs and nanoparticles of ZrO2. The ZrO2NPs/MWCNTs/GCE exhibited a sharp anodic wave at 645mV with a large enhancement of the current response for terbutaline. Square wave voltammetry (SWV) was performed for the determination of terbutaline at ZrO2NPs/MWCNTs/GCE. A linear plot was obtained for the current responses of terbutaline against concentrations in the range of 10-160nM yielding a detection limit of 2.25nM (based on 3Sb/m). Improved voltammetric behavior, long-time stability and good reproducibility were obtained for terbutaline at the proposed electrode. A mean recovery of 101.2% with an RSD% of 1.9 was obtained for the analysis of the drug formulation. The accurate and precise quantification of terbutaline makes the ZrO2NPs/MWCNTs/GCE system of great interest for monitoring its therapeutic use.