Fast determination of salbutamol, abused by athletes for doping, in pharmaceuticals and human biological fluids by square wave voltammetry

The determination of salbutamol, used for doping, has been carried out at nano gold particles modified indium tin oxide (NGITO) electrode using Osteryoung square wave voltammetry. The NGITO electrode exhibited an effective catalytic response towards salbutamol oxidation as compared to bare ITO and bulk gold electrodes. The peak current was also found to be significantly increased. The determination was carried out in phosphate containing electrolyte in the pH range 4.0–10.0 and two well-defined peaks were noticed. The first peak was found to be linearly dependent on concentration of salbutamol in the concentration range 50–2000 ng/ml with a detection limit of 75 ng/ml, whereas the second peak was due to adsorption of product. The product of oxidation corresponding to first peak was found to be C–C linked dimer and peak II was due to strong adsorption of dimer. The proposed method has been applied to determine the concentration of salbutamol in pharmaceutical formulations and human blood plasma and urine samples. A comparison of salbutamol concentration determined by proposed method and GC–MS indicated a good agreement. It is believed that the method is simple, rapid and can be easily used in determining this drug in case of its abuse in doping.