Voltammetric determination of atenolol at C60-modified glassy carbon electrodes

C60-modified glassy carbon electrode has been found to exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity towards atenolol oxidation for its voltammetric determination at physiological pH. Lowering of overpotential associated with atenolol oxidation indicates electrocatalytic nature of electrode. Determination of atenolol was carried out at pH 7.2 at modified electrode and a well-defined oxidation peak has been observed ∼1040 mV versus Ag/AgCl electrode for atenolol oxidation. Calibration plot having good co-linearity with a correlation coefficient 0.997 was obtained in the concentration range of 0.25–1.5 mM atenolol and the sensitivity of the method has been found to be 8.58 μA mM−1. The detection limit is found to be 0.16 mM. The method developed is applicable for atenolol determination in pharmaceutical preparations and urine samples. The modified electrode showed a good surface coverage (∼85%) with C60.