Electrochemical Determination of the Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, Dapoxetine, Using Cesium-Gold Nanoparticles.

Cesium-gold (Cs-Au) nanoparticles are shown to be analytically advantageous for the electroanalytical sensing of dapoxetine (DPX), a serotonin reuptake inhibitor used for the treatment of premature ejaculation. The Cs-Au nanoparticles are electrically wired and supported upon mass producible, economical screen-printed electrochemical sensing platforms and are characterized electrochemically (cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) and physiochemically (field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis). The face-centered design was applied to optimize the significant experimental factors by using square wave voltammetry. The Cs-Au-based sensor is found to exhibit a large linear range (10 ^-7 to 10 ^-4 M) with a good analytical linearity with the limits of detection and quantification corresponding to 2.50 × 10 ^-10 and 8.33 × 10 ^-8 M, respectively. The developed sensor was successfully applied in the quantification of DPX in the presence of sildenafil, both of which are commonly found within combined dose tablet pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed DPX electrochemical Cs-Au-based sensor has the advantages of being single-shot and disposable and is shown to be successful in determining DPX in pharmaceutical formulations, human urine, and serum samples with acceptable recoveries.
Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.