Prospects on the Hyphenated Electrochemistry and Mass Spectrometry as a Practical Analytical Technique in the Assessment of Oxidative Drug Metabolism

For several years, electrochemistry in combination with mass spectrometry has been the subject of attention and development for studying the oxidative drug metabolism at early stages of new drug development. Though the technique could successfully imitate the in vivo oxidative drug metabolism initiated by electron transfer, it lags in the imitation of reactions initiated by either hydrogen atom transfer or oxygen atom transfer. The prospect of using electrochemistry as a practical analytical technique in the imitation of oxidative drug metabolism, therefore, relies on the extension of its utility toward covering those reactions initiated by hydrogen atom transfer and oxygen atom transfer. In this brief critical review, I discuss potential electrochemical techniques that can benefit the application of electrochemistry beyond electron transfer reactions.