Electrochemical determination of citalopram by adsorptive stripping voltammetry-determination in pharmaceutical products

The electrochemical behavior of citalopram was studied by square-wave and square-wave adsorptive-stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV). Citalopram can be reduced and accumulated at a mercury drop electrode, with a maximum peak current intensity being obtained at a potential of approximately -1.25V vs. AgCl/Ag, in an aqueous electrolyte solution of pH 12. A SWAdSV method has been developed for the determination of citalopram in pharmaceutical preparations. The method shows a linear range between 1.0 x 10(-7) and 2.0 x 10(-6) mol L-1 with a limit of detection of 5 x 10(-8) mol L-1 for an accumulation time of 30 s. The precision of the method was evaluated by assessing the repeatability and intermediate precision, achieving good relative standard deviations in all cases (<= 2.3%). The proposed method was applied to the determination of citalopram in five pharmaceutical products and the results obtained are in good agreement with the labeled values.