Utilization of Acetaminophen as a Homogeneous Electrocatalyst for N-acetyl-L-cysteine Oxidation at the Surface of Carbon Paste Electrode

The utilization of acetaminophen (AC) as a homogeneous electrocatalyst in the presence of N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) at the surface of carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) has been surveyed in aqueous medium using double step potential chronoamperometry (CHA), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) methods. Though, NAC itself shows a very negligible electrochemical response at bare CPE, the response could be greatly increased in the presence of acetaminophen at MWCNT paste electrode (MWCNT-CPE) which enables a sensitive electrochemical determination of the NAC. The kinetic parameters such as transfer coefficient (α), the apparent diffusion coefficient (Dapp) and the chemical reaction rate constant (kh) were calculated 0.33, 5.56×10-6 cm2 s-1 and 1.35×102 cm3 mol-1 s-1, respectively. A linear calibration range of 1.0×10-6 M-3.0×10-5 M and detection limit of 3.9×10-7 M were obtained for determination of NAC at MWCNT-CPE using DPV. The offered method is useful for the routine analysis of NAC in real sample.