A Novel All-Solid-State Levocetirizine-Selective Potentiometric Microsensor

In this study, a novel all-solid-state potentiometric microsensor was developed for the selective and sensitive determination of levocetirizine dihydrochloride (LEV. 2 HCl ) in pharmaceutical drug samples. For this purpose; levocetirizine-tetraphenylborate (LEVTPB) ion-pair was synthesized using levocetirizine dihydrochloride (LEV. 2 HCl ) and sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) and the microsensor was developed by using this ionpair as an ionophore in the structure of the microsensor. The optimum membrane composition of the levocetirizine-selective (LEV-selective) microsensor was determined and the potentiometric performance characteristics were investigated. The detection limit of the proposed microsensor was calculated as 3.5×10-7mol.L-1. The response time of the microsensor was significantly short ( ≤10 s). The microsensor showed a super-Nernstian response with a slope of 59.9±0.6mV(R2: 0.9991 ) over a wide concentration range of 10-6-10-2mol.L-1 for LEV.2 HCl solutions over seven weeks and no significant drift in potentials. The microsensor was determined to have optimum performance in the pH range of 4.0-8.0. The microsensor was successfully used to determine levocetirizine in pharmaceutical samples. The results were statistically compared with the UV-Vis spectroscopy method. The obtained potentiometric results were in good harmony with the results obtained by the UV-Vis spectroscopy method at a confidence level of 95%. Index Terms-Drug, Ion-pair, Levocetrizine, Microsensor, Potentiometry.