Potentiometric determination of mephedrone in oral fluids with ion-selective membranes

This work presents a potentiometric approach for the detection of two cathinone derivatives, namely mephedrone (4-MMC) and clephedrone (4-CMC). Contrary to neutral-carriers (dibenzo-18-crown-6-ether and calix[4]arene), cation-exchanger (tetraphenylborate sodium) as active component of ion-selective membrane showed near-Nernstian response (+47 mV/decade from 1.7 center dot 10(-6) to 5.6 center dot 10(-4) mol l(-1)) and selectivity for 4-MMC in oral fluids (OF). The agreement between the quantitative results obtained with the potentiometric approach and the HPLC/MS-MS method determination of 4-MMC in OF shows the potential of the proposed potentiometric approach for forensic analysis.