Voltammetric behavior and assay of the contraceptive drug levonorgestrel in bulk, tablets, and human serum at a mercury electrode.

The cyclic voltammograms of levonorgestrel (LNG) in Britton-Robinson buffers of pH 2-11 at the hanging mercury drop electrode showed a single two-electron irreversible cathodic peak over the whole pH range. This peak may be attributed to the reduction of the 3-keto-delta-4-group in the A-ring of the LNG molecule. The interfacial adsorptive character of levonorgestrel onto the surface of the hanging mercury drop electrode was identified by means of both cyclic voltammetry and chronocoulometry techniques. A simple, sensitive, and selective square-wave adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetric procedure was developed for the quantitation of levonorgestrel. Under the optimized operational cond…