Development of a new carbon paste sensor for low level measurement of propranolol in pharmaceutical and biological samples

Propranolol (PPL), 1-naphthalen-1-yloxy-3-(propan-2-ylamino) propan-2-ol, is a medication of the beta blocker class. It is used to treat high blood pressure and also to prevent migraine headaches and further heart problems in angina or heart attacks. A few methods such as voltammetry [1], chromatography [2] and spectroscopy [3] have been reported for determination of propranolol. However, no potentiometric carbon paste sensor has been reported for the determination of propranolol. With respect to the unique advantages of potentiometric carbon paste sensors for drugs determination, in this study, performance characteristics of a new potentiometric carbon paste sensor for the fast, easy and selective determination of propranolol was described [4]. The constructed potentiometric sensor is based on the use of the ion association complex of propranololtungstosilicate as a good ionophore in the carbon paste matrix. The proposed sensor exhibited a Nernestian slope of 59.1 mV/decade for propranolol over the concentration range of 1.7×10-9 – 2.2×10-4 M, and a detection limit of 1.5×10-9 M. The electrode has a fast response time (9 s), satisfactory reproducibility, long life time and most importantly, excellent selectivities for propranolol relative to a variety of foreign organic and inorganic species. The effect of pH and the temperature on the potential response of the sensor was investigated. Potentiometric determination of propranolol in different pharmaceutical and biological samples such as propranolol tablet and blood serum samples were investigated by the proposed sensor.