Carbonaceous materials–20: electrochemical determination of viloxazine on a novel carbonaceous template

Abstract

Since viloxazine is used as an antidepressant and approximately 15% of it is excreted from the body unchanged, detecting viloxazine in both bodily fluids and environmental samples is important. There are a limited number of studies in the literature on the detection of viloxazine by electrochemical methods. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing utilization of natural carbonaceous materials as electrodes due to their low cost, easy accessibility, and high electrical conductivity. This study explores the applicability of carbonaceous electrodes, derived from the pyrolysis of pine (Pinus sylvestris) pollen powder, coal tar, and their mixture, for the determination of viloxazine. The obtained carbonaceous material was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical methods. The detection limit of the developed method was 0.02 µM with a detection range of 0.1–20 µM. The developed method was selective against various interferents, including dopamine, ascorbic acid, uric acid, and nitrite. Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to tap water and human serum samples for the detection of viloxazine.