Abstract
Cabergoline (CAB) is an ergot alkaloid derivative with dopamine agonist activity. In this work for the first time the electrocatalytic oxidation of CAB was carried out with nickel nanoparticles-modified carbon paste electrode using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, chronocoulometry and amperometry methods. At first, nickel nanoparticles were synthesized by non-aqueous polyol method and these nanoparticles were mixed with graphite powder to form modified carbon paste electrode. The resulting modified electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscope images. In the presence of 0.1 M NaOH a good redox behavior of the Ni(III)/Ni(II) couple at the surface of the electrode can be observed. CAB was successfully oxidized at the surface of the modified electrode. The electrocatalytic oxidation peak current of this drug was linearly dependent on its concentration. The proposed sensor exhibited a high sensitivity and was successfully applied for the determination of CAB in real samples.
Cabergoline 1-[(6-allyergoline-8β-yl)-carbonyl]- 1-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]-3-ethyl urea (Scheme) is a dopamine agonist licensed for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease as adjunctive treatment with levodopa plus a dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor in patients effected by on-off mobility problems [1]. Till now, the commonly employed techniques for the determination of this drug in bulk form, pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids are based on HPLC [2], LC–MS [3], spectroscopy [4] and microbiological assays [5–9]. The problems encountered using such methods are the need for time-consuming extraction procedures and expensive instrumentation, so the use of a simpler, faster, cheaper and also sensitive electrochemical technique can be an interesting alternative. Electrochemistry has many advantages, making it an appealing choice for pharmaceutical analysis [10, 11]. Electrochemistry has always provided analytical techniques characterized by instrumental simplicity, moderate cost, and portability.