Potentiometric determination of the local anesthetic procaine in pharmaceutical samples

In this study, a new potentiometric sensor was developed for the determination of the local anesthetic drug procaine in pharmaceutical samples. Procaine (Pr)–Tetraphenlyborate (TPB) ion–pair was synthesized and used as a sensor material. Potentiometric sensors using the synthesized ion pair (Pr–TPB), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and o–nitrophenyloctyl ether (o–NPOE) in different proportions were prepared and their performance properties were tested. Among the prepared sensors, the best potentiometric response characteristics were obtained with the sensor composition Pr–TPB:PVC:o–NPOE in the ratio of 6.0:32.0:62.0 (w/w %). The new procaine sensor developed in the present study had a near–Nernstian behavior of 54.1 ± 3.3 mV/per decade and a low detection limit of 3.18 × 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹ in the concentration range of 1.0 × 10⁻¹–1.0 × 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹. Additionally, the sensor had a response time of less than 10 s and could work in a wide pH range for two different concentration values without being affected by pH changes. Finally, the new procaine potentiometric sensor was used to detect procaine in injection samples and successfully determined procaine concentrations with high recoveries.