Electrochemical study of acetaminophen in presence of 4-Pyridinecarboxylic acid hydrazyd

Acetaminophen, N-acetyl-p-aminophenol or paracetamol, is a widely used antipyretic and analgesic drug. It is an attractively alternative drug for children and people who are sensitive to aspirin. At the recommended dosage, there are no side effects. However, overdoses cause liver and kidney damage when administrated overdose. It is suspected that a metabolite of acetaminophen is the actual hepatotoxic agent. Several methods including conventional spectrophotometry, fluorimetry, high performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis have been used to determine acetaminophen in the pharmaceutical and medical applications. Electrochemical methods are also popular for this application because the cost is low, and time consuming is less. Most previous reports were performed using glassy carbon (GC) electrode, carbon paste electrode or platinum electrode to study the electrochemistry of acetaminophen[1]. Also, electrochemical methods, especially the voltammetric and amperometric ones give the opportunity to study the oxidation mechanisms, the redox metabolites and their detection from pharmaceuticals and body fluids [2,3]. The cyclic voltammetric study concerning the electrochemical oxidation of acetaminophen was described in the works of Kissinger et al [2]. In these study the reactivity of intermediate N-acetyl-p-quinoneimine toward 4-Pyridinecarboxylic acid hydrazyd was investigated. Also, electrochemical oxidation of acetaminophen (N–acetyl–p–aminophenol) has been studied in the presence of 4-Pyridinecarboxylic acid hydrazyd as nucleophile in aqueous solution, by means of cyclic voltammetry and controlled-potential coulometry. The results indicate the participation of electrochemically generated N-acetyl-p-quinoneimine in Michael reaction with 4-Pyridinecarboxylic acid hydrazyd. Furthermore our results indicate that , acetaminophen in the presence of 4-Pyridinecarboxylic acid hydrazyd in phosphate buffer (0.2M,pH=8) can be converted under an EC mechanism.