From mercury to nanosensors: Past, present and the future perspective of electrochemistry in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis

Polarography was the first developed automated method of voltage-controlled electrolysis with dropping mercury electrode (DME). Then, hanging mercury drop and static mercury drop electrodes were added as an alternative indicator electrode. In this way, polarography turned formally into voltammetry with mercury electrodes in the electroreduction way. Solid electrodes such as noble metal and carbon based electrodes can be used for the investigation of the compounds for both oxidation and reduction directions, which is called voltammetry. The voltammetric and polarographic techniques are more sensitive, reproducible, and easily used electroanalytical methods that can be alternative to more frequently used separation and spectrometric methods. Furthermore, in some cases there is a relationship between voltammetry and pharmaceutical samples, and the knowledge of the mechanism of their electrode reactions can give a useful clue in elucidation of the mechanism of their interaction with living cells. The voltammetric and polarographic analysis of drugs in pharmaceutical preparations are by far the most common use of electrochemistry for analytical pharmaceutical problems. Recent trends and challenges in the electrochemical methods for the detection of DNA hybridization and pathogens are available. Low cost, small sample requirement and possibility of miniaturization justifies their increasing development.