Enhanced chemiluminescence determination of paracetamol

Abstract

Due to the severe consequences of potential overdoses of paracetamol (PCM) on the human body, the measurement of PCM in pharmaceutical and biological samples is essential. Therefore, a simple and rapid technique with a high detection limit and a wide linear range is presented here which plays a crucial role in detecting PCM's overdose leading to drug poisoning. This contribution illustrates a novel chemiluminescence (CL) system for the detection of PCM based on the chemiluminescence reaction between PCM and KMnO₄. An enhanced CL was observed by the addition of rhodamine·6G within an SDS surfactant. The system shows good analytical performance over the linear range of 0.12 μM to 0.185 mM with a detection limit of 7.8 × 10⁻⁸ M. In addition, good precision was observed with a RSD of 0.81%. This system was successfully applied to the detection of PCM in pharmaceutical tablets and drops as well as in human urine samples with average % recoveries ranging from 95.5 to 105.7%. The possible interferents from the major excipients in pharmaceuticals and other related compounds as well as biological interferents were also studied. This highlights the feasibility of the proposed system for application in real sample analysis in both chemical and biological matrices.