Use of nickel implanted boron-doped diamond thin film electrode coupled to HPLC system for the determination of tetracyclines.

The electrochemical analysis of tetracyclines was investigated using nickel-implanted boron-doped diamond thin film electrode (Ni-DIA) by cyclic voltammetry and high performance liquid chromatographic with amperometry. Cyclic voltammetry was used to study the electrochemical oxidation of tetracyclines. Comparison experiments were carried out utilizing as-deposited BDD and glassy carbon electrodes. Ni-DIA electrode provided well-resolved oxidative irreversible cyclic voltammograms and the highest current signals among the electrode studied. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with amperometric detection was also studied. The chromatography was performed using a commercially available Inertsil C18 column, with the mobile phase being: 80% phosphate buffer (pH 2.5)-20% acetonitrile and detected at 1.55V. The methods were validated over the concentration range 0.05-100ppm with the overall average recoveries from 83.3 to 102.5% and R.S.D. of less than 10%. The proposed method was further applied to analyse shrimp samples.