Synchronous analysis of acetaminophen, codeine, and caffeine in human fluids employing graphite screen-printed electrodes.

A facile electrochemical approach is proposed for the synchronous determination of acetaminophen (ACP), codeine (COD) and caffeine (CAF) utilizing unmodified screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). The determination of ACP, COD and CAF has been explored across different supporting electrolytes including sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ), hydrochloric acid (HCl), phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ) and Briton Robinson (B.R) buffer solutions. It was found that a 0.05 mol L -1 sulfuric acid solution is an optimal supporting electrolyte utilized for voltammetric analysis of ACP, COD, and CAF with improved sensitivity, stability, and reproducibility. The electro-analytical sensing of ACP, COD and CAF was investigated using SPEs within linear concentration ranges of 3.0-35.0 μmol L -1 , 10-160 μmol L -1 and 10-160 μmol L -1 and revealed competitively low limits of detection (3S/N) of 0.9, 4.8 and 6.3 μmol L -1 for ACP, COD and CAF, respectively. The results indicated the possibility of such a simple and quick electroanalytical protocol for online monitoring of pharmaceutical formulations comprising ACP, COD, and CAF drugs in human fluids with satisfactory recovery.