Chinese Journal of Catalysis 36 (2015) 439–445 催化学报 2015年第36卷第3期 | www.chxb.cn available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chnjc Article Synthesis of Ag nanoparticles for the electrochemical detection of anticancer drug flutamide Farzaneh Ahmadi a , Jahan Bakhsh Raoof a, *, Reza Ojani a , Mehdi Baghayeri a , Moslem Mansour Lakouraj b , Hamed Tashakkorian b a Electroanalytical Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran b Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 7 July 2014 Accepted 11 August 2014 Published 20 March 2015 Ag nanoparticles were synthesized on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode modified with p‐tert‐butylcalix[4]arene and p‐tert‐butylcalix[6]arene by the deposition of Ag + at an open circuit potential followed by the electrochemical reduction of the Ag + . The presence of the calixarene layer on the electrode surface controlled the particle size and prevented agglomeration. Cyclic voltam‐ metry showed that the Ag nanoparticles on the modified glassy carbon electrode had good catalytic ability for the reduction of flutamide. The effects of calixarene concentration, potential applied for the reduction of Ag + , number of calixarene layers, and pH value on the electrocatalytic activity of the Ag nanoparticles were investigated. The modified electrode had a linear range in differential pulse voltammetry of 10−1000 µmol/L with a detection limit of 9.33 µmol/L for flutamide at an S/N = 3. The method was applied to the detection of flutamide in practical samples. © 2015, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Silver nanoparticle Calix[n]arene Flutamide Voltammetric sensor 1. Introduction Flutamide (FLT), 4‐nitro‐3‐trifluoromethyl‐isobutilanilide, is a widely used nonsteroidal anti‐androgen drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. FLT and other anti‐androgens block the male hormone, testosterone, which stimulates the growth of prostate cancer cells. The prostate cancer cells are unable to grow without testosterone. FLT does not cure pros‐ tate cancer, but it can keep the cancer under control for many months or years [1,2]. FLT has also been used in the treatment of male‐to‐female transsexuals. After human oral administra‐ tion, FLT is quickly metabolized to produce about 10 metabo‐ lites, mainly 2‐hydroxyflutamide and 3‐trifluoromethyl‐ 4‐nitroaniline [3]. There are limited methods for the selective detection of FLT, which are flow injection [4], spectrophotometric [5,6] and electrochemical [7,8] methods, and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [9]. These methods suffer from dif‐ ferent problems. The flow injection method has a high limit of detection (LOD), the spectrophotometric and HPLC methods do not have specific LODs, and the electrochemical methods use a dropping mercury electrode that is hazardous to the environ‐ ment. In the present study, we developed a sensitive and rapid method with a low LOD for the detection of FLT in practical samples using electrochemical methods, which gave the ad‐ vantageous of simplicity and sensitivity. Electrochemical methods such as differential pulse polarography [10], stripping voltammetry [11], differential pulse voltammetry [12], and square‐wave voltammetry [13] have been widely applied for the detection of pharmaceuticals. In recent years, particular modification methods that can activate the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with * Corresponding author. Tel: +98‐112‐5342392; Fax: +98‐112‐5342350; E‐mail: j.raoof@umz.ac.ir DOI: 10.1016/S1872‐2067(14)60209‐6 | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18722067 | Chin. J. Catal., Vol. 36, No. 3, March 2015