Electrochemical determination of artemisinin using a multi-wall carbon nanotube film-modified electrode

Artemisinin, the effective ingredient of Chinese herb Artemisia annua L (Qinghao in Chinese), has been proved to be effective to antimalarial. Herein, a reliable, sensitive and convenient electrochemical method was developed for the determination of artemisinin utilizing the excellent properties of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT). The electrochemical behavior of artemisinin was investigated. It is found that the reduction peak current of artemisinin remarkably increases and the peak potential shifts positively by 240 mV at the MWNT film-modified electrode. These phenomena indicate that the MWNT film exhibits efficient catalytic activity to the electrochemical reduction of artemisinin. The effects of pH value, amount of MWNT, scan rate and accumulation time were examined. The limit of detection (S/N = 3) is as low as 10 mu g L-1. Finally, this newly developed method was used to determine the content of artemisinin in Artemisia annua L.