Recent Publications Feed (ADMIN)

The quantification of genotoxic impurities (GI) such as hydrazine (HZ) is of critical importance in the pharmaceutical industry in order to uphold drug safety. HZ is a particularly intractable GI and its detection represents a significant technical challenge. Here we present for the first time, the use of electrochemical analysis to achieve the required detection limits by the pharmaceutical industry for the detection of HZ in the presence of a large excess of a common active pharmaceutical ingredient (API); acetaminophen (ACM) which itself is redox active, typical of many APIs. A flow injection analysis approach with electrochemical detection (FIA-EC) is utilized, in conjunction with a co-planar boron doped diamond (BDD) microband electrode, insulated in an insulating diamond platform for durability and integrated into a two piece flow cell. In order to separate the electrochemical signature for HZ such that it is not obscured by that of the ACM (present in excess), the BDD electrode is functionalized with Pt nanoparticles (NPs) to significantly shift the half wave potential for HZ oxidation to less positive potentials. Microstereolithography was used to fabricate flow cells with defined hydrodynamics which minimize dispersion of the analyte and optimize detection sensitivity. Importantly, the Pt NPs were shown to be stable under flow and a limit of detection of 64.5 nM or 0.274 parts per million for HZ with respect to the ACM, present in excess, was achieved. This represents the first electrochemical approach which surpasses the required detection limits set by the pharmaceutical industry for HZ detection in the presence of an API and paves the wave for on-line analysis and application to other GI and API systems.

A miniaturised electrochemical cell design for Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) studies is reported. The cell incorporates a Loop Gap Resonator (LGR) for EPR investigation of electrochemically generated radicals in aqueous (and other large dielectric loss) samples and achieves accurate potential control for electrochemistry by using micro-wires as working electrodes. The electrochemical behaviour of the cell is analysed with COMSOL finite element models and the EPR sensitivity compared to a commercial TE011 cavity resonator using 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl (TEMPOL) as a reference. The electrochemical EPR performance is demonstrated using the reduction of methyl viologen as a redox probe in both water and acetonitrile. The data reported herein suggest that sub-micromolar concentrations of radical species can be detected in aqueous samples with accurate potential control, and that subtle solution processes coupled to electron transfer, such as comproportionation reactions, can be studied quantitatively using EPR.

The design, development and application of high-speed scanning electrochemical probe microscopy is reported. The approach allows the acquisition of a series of high-resolution images (typically 1000 pixels µm-2) at rates approaching 4 s per frame, while collecting up to 8000 image pixels per second, about 1000 times faster than typical imaging speeds used up to now. The focus is on scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM), but the principles and practicalities are applicable to many electrochemical imaging methods. The versatility of the high-speed scan concept is demonstrated at a variety of substrates, including imaging the electroactivity of a patterned self-assembled monolayer on gold, visualization of chemical reactions occurring at single wall carbon nanotubes and probing nanoscale electrocatalysts for water splitting. These studies provide movies of spatial variations of electrochemical fluxes as a function of potential and a platform for the further development of high speed scanning with other electrochemical imaging techniques.