The aim of this study was to obtain a simple and fast modified electrode for the detection of paclitaxel (PCX) and oxaliplatin (OXA) in aqueous solution. PCX and OXA are some of the most used cytostatic drugs suitable to treat various types of cancer, e.g., ovarian, breast, lung, cervical, pancreatic, Kaposi’s sarcoma. The development of an easy method for its determination is required for both the dosage in cancer therapy and due its potential presence in environment and especially, in water samples. Boron doped diamond (BDD) electrode was electrochemically modified with copper (Cu) by chronoamperometry (CA) operated under optimized conditions of -0.75 V/SCE potential level for 120 minutes. Copper-modified boron-doped diamond (Cu/BDD) exhibited the electrocatalytic effect towards the paclitaxel and oxaliplatin oxidation, allowing their detection in 0.1 M NaOH supporting electrolyte. The limiting anodic current was noticed at the potential value of +0.75 V/SCE that increased linearly with PCX concentration, and at the potential value of + 0.6V/SCE for the oxaliplatin. Some mechanical aspects related to the PCX oxidation at Cu/BDD electrode in 0.1 M NaOH supporting electrolyte were determined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) recorded at various scan rates. CV was based on compounds detection and achieved the sensitivity of 0.65 μA/µM for oxaliplatin and respective, 5.47 μA/µM for paclitaxel.
Keywords: copper, electrochemical detection, modified boron-doped diamond electrode paclitaxel, oxaliplatin