Highly sensitive and selective determination of methylergometrine maleate using carbon nanofibers/silver nanoparticles composite modified carbon paste electrode

A highly sensitive and selective voltammetric method for determination of Methylergometrine maleate (MM) in pharmaceutical formulations, urine and blood serum samples has been developed based on enhanced electrochemical response of MM at carbon nanofibers and silver nanoparticles modified carbon paste electrode (CNF-AgNP-CPE). The electrode material was characterized by various techniques viz., X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic response of MM at CNF-AgNP-CPE was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Under optimized conditions, the proposed sensor exhibits excellent electrochemical response towards MM. The DPV study shows greatly enhanced electrochemical signal for MM at CNF-AgNPCPE lending high sensitivity to the proposed sensor for MM detection. The peak (I-p) current for MM is found to be rectilinear in the range 4.0 x 10(-8)-2.0 x 10(-5) M with a detection limit of 7.1 x 10(-9) M using DPV. The feasibility of the proposed sensor in analytical applications was investigated by conducting experiments on commercial pharmaceutical formulations, human urine and blood serum samples, which yielded satisfactory recoveries of MM. The proposed electrochemical sensor offers high sensitivity, selectivity, reproducibility and practical utility. We recommend it as an authentic and productive electrochemical sensor for successful determination of MM. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.