Hemin modified carbon fat electrode for analyzing antimalarial endoperoxide artemisinin in Artemisia annua

A hemin bulk modified carbon electrode with Adeps neutralis (solid fat) as binder was developed for the determination of antimalarial endoperoxide artemisinin in plant matrix. The hemin modified electrode showed significant catalytic activity for the electrochemical reduction of artemisinin at about - 380 mV vs. Ag/AgCl in phosphate buffer solution of pH 7 by using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. Under optimized conditions strict linearity between artemisinin concentration and height of the cathodic catalytic current peak was observed in 4.8 x 10(-6)-7.8 x 10(-5) M concentration range (R = 0.9991) when using differential pulse voltammetry. The detection limit was calculated as 1.4 x 10(-6) M of artemisinin. The developed electroanalytical device is suitable for the determination of artemisinin in Artemisia annua extracts.