Determination of Benzoyl Peroxide Levels in Wheat Flour and Pharmaceutical Preparations by Differential Pulse Voltammetry in Nonaqueous Media

Abstract

Benzoyl peroxide (BP) was determined by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) using a glassy carbon electrode in a dichloromethane‐acetic acid (1.5×10⁻² mol l⁻¹) solution and tetrabutyl ammonium perchlorate (0.01 mol l⁻¹) as the supporting electrolyte. The peak potential was −0.045 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). There was a good linear relationship between the peak current and the benzoyl peroxide concentration in the range of 2.5×10⁻⁶–1.0×10⁻⁴ mol l⁻¹. The detection limit of the method was 2.5×10⁻⁷ mol l⁻¹. The recovery was 94.8–106.0%. The samples of wheat flour and the pharmaceutical preparations for the treatment of acne vulgaris were directly detected with desired results. The reaction mechanism of benzoyl peroxide on the electrode was also discussed, which was two electrons and two protons irreversible reaction.

Keywords:

• Benzoyl peroxide
• differential pulse voltammetry
• wheat flour
• acne

Acknowledgments

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20375034), the Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation (No. BK2002045), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Provincial Education Department (No. 02KJB150013) supported this work.