A novel, simple and sensitive CuO nanoparticles (CuO NPs)–catalyzed chemiluminescence (CL) system,hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)–hydrogen carbonate (HCO3−)–CuO NPs, was developed for determinationof pharmaceuticals including atorvastatin, rivastigmine and topiramate. The proposed approach wasbased on inhibitory effect of these pharmaceuticals on the CL system. In this line, the experimentalparameters influencing the CL intensity including concentrations of NaHCO3, CuO NPs and H2O2wereoptimized to achieve highest light emission eliciting from this CL system. Under the optimum conditions,the calibration curves were plotted for each of atorvastatin, rivastigmine and topiramate. Those werelinear in the concentration of the ranges of 1.0 × 10−7–1.0 × 10−4mol L−1, 1.0 × 10−6–4.0 × 10−4mol L−1and 1.0 × 10−5–7.0 × 10−4mol L−1, with detection limits of 1.3 × 10−8mol L−1, 8.6 × 10−7mol L−1and1.4 × 10−6mol L−1for atorvastatin, rivastigmine and topiramate, respectively. The CuO NPs, which weresimply synthesized by using quick-precipitation method, were characterized by employing X-ray diffrac-tion (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. The methodwas successfully exploited for measurement of these pharmaceuticals in the pharmaceutical preparationsand tap water.
