Effect of monomer structure of anionic surfactant on voltammetric signals of an anticancer drug: rapid, simple, and sensitive electroanalysis of nilotinib in biological samples.

A rapid, simple, and highly sensitive electroanalytical method was developed for the first time for the detection of ultra-trace amounts of nilotinib in sodium lauryl sulphate media. The electrochemical behavior of nilotinib was investigated on a glassy carbon electrode in the absence and presence of sodium lauryl sulphate media by cyclic voltammetry and adsorptive stripping voltammetric methods. The cyclic voltammograms proved that the electrochemical behavior of nilotinib showed irreversible and diffusion-adsorption-controlled oxidation processes in 0.1 M H2SO4. The effect of surfactant concentration on the first and second peaks of nilotinib was examined. Depending on whether the surfactants had a monomer or monolayer hemimicelle structure, they were attracted to amine moieties at related points in the nilotinib structure through the electrostatic interaction. The sensitivity of the method was markedly enhanced in the presence of surfactants using adsorptive stripping square-wave voltammetry. Under optimum conditions, nilotinib was determined in a concentration range of 2.0 × 10-8 to 2.0 × 10-6 mol L-1, with a limit of detection of 6.33 × 10-9 mol L-1 in 0.1 M H2SO4 containing 2.0 × 10-7 mol L-1 sodium lauryl sulphate. The proposed method can be applied for the sensitive determination of nilotinib in biological samples. Graphical abstract.