Quantification of terbutaline in pharmaceutical formulation and human serum by adsorptive stripping voltammetry at a glassy carbon electrode.

The electrochemical oxidative behavior of terbutaline at the glassy carbon electrode was studied in a series of the Britton-Robinson buffer of pH 2--11. Cyclic and square-wave voltammograms of terbutaline at the pH values </=9 exhibited a single irreversible anodic peak. A fully validated, simple, sensitive and precise square-wave adsorptive anodic stripping voltammetric procedure was described for the determination of terbutaline in bulk form, tablets and human serum. For 5x10(-8) M bulk terbutaline a mean recovery of 98.78+/-0.94% (n=5) was achieved following its preconcentration by adsorptive accumulation onto the glassy carbon electrode at a +0.15 V (vs. Ag/AgCl/KCl(s)) for 180 s. Limit of detection of 6x10(-9) M and limit of quantitation of 2x10(-8) M terbutaline were achieved in the bulk form or its formulations (Bricanyl tablets). The described square-wave adsorption anodic stripping voltammetric procedure was successfully applied for the determination of terbutaline in human serum following medium exchange. Limit of detection of 1.41x10(-8) M (3.173 ng ml(-1)) and limit of quantitation of 4.70x10(-8) M (10.575 ng ml(-1)) were achieved in human serum with a mean recovery of 98.11+/-1.13%.