Disposable Stochastic Platform for the Simultaneous Determination of Calcipotriol and Betamethasone in Pharmaceutical and Surface Water Samples

Abstract

A disposable stochastic platform based on calix [6]arene modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes-gold nanoparticles screen-printed electrode has been developed for the simultaneous determination of calcipotriol and betamethasone. For both analytes, very wide linear concentration ranges and extremely low limits of quantification (LOQ) were obtained: from 1.0 × 10−15 to 1.0 × 10−3 mol L−1 and with a 1.0 × 10−15 mol L−1 LOQ for calcipotriol, and from 1.0 × 10−16 to 1.0 × 10−2 mol L−1 with a 1.0 × 10−16 mol L−1 LOQ for betamethasone. The applicability of the sensing platform was successfully tested in commercially available topical pharmaceutical gel and surface water samples, obtaining recovery values ranging from 99.10 to 99.99% and relative standard deviation values under 0.05%. The obtained results render the proposed platform a viable, robust, selective, and sensitive tool that can be employed for the determination of the analytes in on-site routine quality control of pharmaceuticals and water quality monitoring.

Keywords

• stochastic platform
• disposable sensor
• simultaneous determination
• calcipotriol
• betamethasone