A green square-wave voltammetric method for albendazole determination at a glassy carbon electrode: first use of ethanol as an environmentally friendly solvent

A simple, sensitive square-wave voltammetric method was developed for the determination of albendazole at an unmodified glassy carbon electrode, employing ethanol for the first time as a green co-solvent in the electroanalytical assay of this compound. Optimum conditions were established as Britton–Robinson buffer (pH 2.0) containing 20% (v/v) ethanol. The oxidation of albendazole was found to be a diffusion-controlled, proton-coupled electron transfer process, based on scan rate studies. Under optimized conditions, the peak current increased linearly with albendazole concentration over the range 0.06–20 µM, with a detection limit of 21.3 nM. The method was validated according to ICH Q2(R2) guidelines and successfully applied to the determination of albendazole in a commercial tablet formulation, giving satisfactory recovery, precision, and accuracy. The developed method demonstrated good selectivity with a tolerance limit of ±2.52% in the presence of potential interfering agents commonly found in human body fluids and pharmaceutical formulations. The suitability of the developed method for green and white analytical chemistry approaches was evaluated using various tools. This study is the first to report the qualitative and quantitative determination of albendazole within an environmentally friendly analytical framework, using potentially non-toxic solvents and energy and reducing waste generation.