ABSTRACT
Analytical chemistry plays a critical role in the development of a compound from its synthesis to its marketing as part of a drug formulation. The instrumental methods most commonly used for quantitation in a pharmaceutical laboratory fall into four basic categories: chromatographic, spectrophotometric, electrochemical, and radiometric analysis. Among these four, electrochemical analysis is the least often employed. This is historically attributable to a lack of trained personnel and dependable commercial instrumentation. The relative neglect of electroanalytical chemistry is indeed unfortunate since many problems of pharmaceutical interest can easily be solved with a high degree of accuracy and precision employing this approach. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine the various problems presented to the analytical pharmaceutical chemist and to explore the possible role of electroanalytical chemistry in solving these problems.
