Research progress in electroanalytical techniques for determination of antimalarial drugs in pharmaceutical and biological samples

Antimalarial drugs play a crucial role in the treatment and cure of malaria. Electrochemical sensors have been the subject of extensive research in the field of drug analysis since many decades, and yet seem to project great potential for the future. The present review explores the basic strategies and recent developments in the electroanalysis of antimalarial drugs in various matrices. A discussion of the commonly used electroanalytical methods for drug assays is briefly discussed. The methods have been critically analysed highlighting their analytical performance and limitations. Nanomaterials, conducting polymers and presence of surfactants made significant contributions to voltammetric determination of antimalarial drugs suggesting promising future for use of chemically-modified electrode based sensors for the detection. Future progress in quantification of these drugs in biological fluids is expected to drastically improve the applicability of electrochemical methods for routine clinical analysis. The review focusses on the role of electroanalytical methods for determination of antimalarial drugs in biological matrices and pharmaceutical formulations with a critical analysis of published voltammetric and potentiometric methods.