Selective method for the determination of gold by anodic stripping voltammetry

A highly selective method for the deter- mination of gold by anodic stripping voltammetry is described. For preconcentration a glassy carbon electrode, activated by deposition of small amounts of gold before the measurement, is proposed. The Au³⁺ reduction process at such an electrode is effective starting with the potential +0.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl electrode. A linear dependence of the current of the gold stripping peak on the gold concentration was obtained in the range from 5×10⁻⁸ to 1×10⁻⁶ mol/l. The relative standard deviation for 2×10^-7 mol/l HAuCl₄ was 4.2% (n=5). The detection limit was 4×10^-9 mol/l. The accuracy of the method was verified by the determination of gold in reference materials.     

Determination of Mo(VI) with 2-benzylideneiminobenzohydroxamic acid (2-BIBH) in urine by cathodic stripping voltammetry

Summary Controlled adsorptive accumulation of Mo(VI)-2-BIBH at the hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) provides the basis for the direct stripping measurement of Mo(VI) in nanomolar concentration. The cathodic stripping response is evaluated with respect to experimental parameters such as preconcentration time, preconcentration potential and others. A differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetric method for the determination of Mo(VI) with 2-BIBH in urine is proposed. The detection limit is 10^–9 mol/l Mo(VI), standard deviation for 5×10^–8 mol/l is ±1.58×10^–9 mol/l.

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Bestimmung von MolybdÄn(VI) mit 2-BenzylideniminobenzohydroxamsÄure (2-BIBH) in Harn durch kathodische Stripping-Voltammetrie

     

Voltammetric copper(II) determination with a montmorillonite-modified carbon paste electrode

The clay mineral montmorillonite has been tested as modifier for the carbon paste electrode with a novel electrode modification technique. The differential pulse voltammetric determination of copper(II) by means of this modified carbon paste electrode has been studied. A detection limit of 4×10^-8 mol/l has been achieved after 10 min preconcentration under open circuit conditions with subsequent anodic stripping voltammetry. The calibration curve for Cu(II) is linear in the range of 4×10^-8–8×10^-7 mol/l. Pb interferes in a 10-fold molar and Cd and Hg in a 100-fold molar excess. The interference by humic ligands is significant.     

Determination of cobalt in the presence of high concentrations of zinc by differential pulse polarography

Summary Cobalt(II) can be determined in 0.1 mol/l Na₃citrate + 0.1 mol/l NH₄Cl + 0.08% dimethylglyoxime as supporting electrolyte in the presence of a 50 000-fold excess of zinc by differential pulse polarography. The limit of determination is 4.2×10^–5 mol/l Co (2.5 mg/l). Linear calibration curves are obtained within the range of 1×10^–7 to 5×10^–6 mol/l cobalt without zinc and in the presence of 5×10^–3 mol/l Zn. The analytical method developed is suitable for the determination of cobalt in zinc plant solutions.

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Cobaltbestimmung in Gegenwart hoher Zinkkonzentrationen mit Hilfe der Differential-Puls-Polarographie

     

Determination of nanomolar levels of guanine by differential-pulse adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry of its copper(II) complex

Guanine is determined at the 5.0×10^–10 –2.0×10^–7 mol/l level by differential-pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry at a hanging mercury drop electrode using the reduction peak of its copper (II) complex at –0.21 V vs. Ag-AgCl electrode. The optimum analytical conditions were found to be Britton-Robinson buffer solution (pH 4.8), an accumulation potential of 0.0 V and an accumulation time of 3 min. Under these conditions, the detection limit is 5.0×10^–10 mol/l and the relative standard deviation 2.6% for 1.0×10^–7 mol/l guanine. The method is compared with the previous voltammetric methods. The presence of some purine derivatives does not interfere.     

Adsorptive accumulation voltammetry of copper(II) using complex formation reaction with salicylideneamino-2-thiophenol

Summary The cathodic stripping voltammetry of copper(II) was investigated with a method, based on the adsorptive accumulation of the Cu(II)-salicylideneamino-2-thiophenol (SATP) complex on a hanging mercury drop electrode. The copper(II)-SATP complex could be accumulated on the electrode at –0.20 V in 0.01 mol/l nitric acid. The reduction peak of the copper complex was observed by scanning the potential in a negative direction in the differential pulse mode. The calibration curve for copper was linear over the range 5×10^–9–1×10^–7 mol/l. This method was applied to determine copper(II) in GSJ (Geological Survey of Japan) standard rock reference materials.     

Sensitive and selective determination of mercury by differential pulse stripping voltammetry after accumulation of mercury vapour on a gold plated graphite electrode

 A selective and sensitive method is proposed for the determination of mercury by anodic stripping voltammetry after its preconcentration from the gas phase. Mercury from the sample solution is reduced to elemental Hg by SnCl₂ and volatilized by the bubbles of a carrier gas. The gas containing mercury vapour is dried and passed through a capillary onto a gold coated graphite electrode. An anodic stripping voltammogram is recorded from 0.1 mol/l HClO₄+3×10^-3 mol/l HCl solution. The calibration curve is linear from 1×10^-9 to 4×10^-8 mol/l Hg(NO₃)₂. The absolute detection limit is 0.46 ng Hg. The relative standard deviations for 4×10^-9 mol/l and 2×10^-8 mol/l Hg(NO₃)₂ are 9.8% and 6.1%, respectively (n=5). Received: 18 December 1995/Revised: 16 April 1996/Accepted: 20 April 1996     

Underpotential deposition of tin(II) on a gold disc electrode and determination of tin in a tin plate sample

This work describes a study of the underpotential deposition (UPD) of Sn²⁺ on a polycrystalline gold disc electrode using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronocoulometry (CC). Sn²⁺ ions showed well-defined peaks from UPD and UPD stripping (UPD-S) in 1 mol/L HCl solutions, while bulk deposition (BD) and BD stripping (BD-S) of the ions were also observed. The measured UPD shifts, E_UPD, between the UPD-S and the BD-S peaks were more than 200 mV. The UPD charge and the surface coverage of tin were measured by CC. A new method for determining Sn²⁺ was therefore developed, based on the excellent electrochemical properties of the Au/Sn UPD system. A plot of the UPD-DPASV (differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry) signal versus the Sn(II) concentration was obtained for [Sn(II)] of 1.98×10^–7 to 3.64×10^–5 M. The method developed here has been applied to determine the tin in a tin plate sample.     

Determination of oxytetracycline in urine and human serum by differential pulse polarography

Summary A differential pulse polarographic method for the determination of oxytetracycline in urine and human serum in acid media (HClO₄ of pH 2) is proposed. The effects of the amount of sample taken and the concentration of HClO₄ present were investigated. The detection limit was 5.5×10^–6 mol/l. The standard deviation of the determination of 5.5×10^–5 mol/l of oxytetracycline in 2 ml of urine was 1.7×10^–6 mol/l and that of the determination of 5.5×10^–5 mol/l of oxytetracycline in 2 ml of human serum was 1.9×10^–6 mol/l.

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Bestimmung von Oxytetracyclin in Urin und Humanserum durch Differential-Pulspolarography

     

Adsorptive stripping voltammetric measurements of trace amounts of platinum(II) and ruthenium(III) in the presence of 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol

An extremely sensitive stripping voltammetric procedure for low level measurements of platinum (II, IV) or ruthenium (III, IV) is reported. The method is based on the interfacial accumulation of the platinum (II) or ruthenium (III)-1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol complex on the surface of a hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by the reduction of the adsorbed complex during the cathodic scan. The peak potential was found to be –0.8 V vs. Ag/AgCl electrode and the reduction current of the adsorbed complex ions of platinum (II) or ruthenium (III) was measured by differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry. The optimum experimental conditions were: 1.5×10^–7 mol/l of 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol solution of pH 9.3, preconcentration potential of –0.2 V, accumulation time of 3 min and pulse amplitude of 50 mV with 4 mV s^–1 scan rate in the presence of ethanol-water (30% v/v) — sodium sulphate (0.5 mol/l). Linear response up to 6.4 × 10^–8 and 5.1 × 10^–8 mol/l and a relative standard deviation (at 1.2×10^–8 mol/l) of 2.4 and 1.6% (n=5) for platinum (II) and ruthenium (III) respectively were obtained. The detection limits of platinum and ruthenium were 3.2×10^–10 and 4.1×10^–10 mol/l, respectively. The electronic spectra of the Pt(II) — PAN and Ru(III) — PAN complexes were measured at pH 9.3 and the stoichiometric ratios of the complexes formed were obtained by the molar ratio method. The effects of some interfering ions on the proposed procedure were critically investigated. The method was found suitable for the sub-microdetermination of ruthenium (IV) and platinum (IV) after their reduction to ruthenium (III) and platinum (II) with sulphur dioxide in acid media. The applicability of the method for the analysis of binary mixtures of ruthenium (III) and (IV) or platinum (II) and (IV) has also been carried out successfully. The method is simple, rapid, precise, and promising for the determination of the tested metal ions at micro-molar concentration level.     

Anodic stripping voltammetric determination of mercury using multi-walled carbon nanotubes film coated glassy carbon electrode

An electrochemical method for the determination of trace levels of mercury based on a multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) film coated glassy carbon electrode (GCE) is described. In 0.1 mol L^–1 HCl solution containing 0.02 mol L^–1 KI, Hg²⁺ was firstly preconcentrated at the MWNT film and then reduced at –0.60 V. During the anodic potential sweep, reduced mercury was oxidized, and then a sensitive and well-defined stripping peak at about –0.20 V appeared. Under identical conditions, a MWNT film coated GCE greatly enhances the stripping peak current of mercury in contrast to a bare GCE. Low concentrations of I^– remarkably improve the determining sensitivity, since this increases the accumulation efficiency of Hg²⁺ at the MWNT film coated GCE. The stripping peak current is proportional to the concentration of Hg²⁺ over the range 8×10^–10–5×10^–7 mol L^–1. The lowest detectable concentration of Hg²⁺ is 2×10^–10 mol L^–1 at 5 min accumulation. The relative standard deviation (RSD) at 1×10^–8 mol L^–1 Hg²⁺ was about 6% (n=10). By using this proposed method, Hg²⁺ in some water samples was determined, and the results were compared with those obtained by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The two results are similar, suggesting that the MWNT-film coated GCE has great potential in practical analysis.     

Determination of Selenium(IV) by Stripping Voltammetry at a Mercury-Film Electrode

A procedure was proposed for the determination of selenium(IV) by stripping voltammetry on a mercury-film electrode at an electrolysis potential of +0.4 V versus the saturated silver–silver chloride reference electrode in a 1 M H₂SO₄ solution. The current of the cathodic peak is a linear function of the selenium(IV) concentration in the range from 5 × 10^–3 to 3 × 10^–1 mg/L (6.3 × 10^–8 to 3.8 × 10^–6 M) at a time of electrolysis of 30 s (t _el). The detection limit for selenium is 1 × 10^–4 mg/L (1.3 × 10^–9 M) at t _el = 300 s. It was shown that selenium(IV) can be determined in the presence of 10 mg/L Zn(II), 1 mg/L Cd(II), 0.5 mg/L Pb(II), and 0.2 mg/L Cu(II). A procedure for the determination of selenium in natural, mineral, and potable water was proposed.     

Silver nanoparticle assemblies supported on glassy-carbon electrodes for the electro-analytical detection of hydrogen peroxide

Electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide using an edge-plane pyrolytic-graphite electrode (EPPG), a glassy carbon (GC) electrode, and a silver nanoparticle-modified GC electrode is reported. It is shown, in phosphate buffer (0.05 mol L^–1, pH 7.4), that hydrogen peroxide cannot be detected directly on either the EPPG or GC electrodes. However, reduction can be facilitated by modification of the glassy-carbon surface with nanosized silver assemblies. The optimum conditions for modification of the GC electrode with silver nanoparticles were found to be deposition for 1 min at –0.5 V vs. Ag from 5 mmol L^–1 AgNO₃/0.1 mol L^–1 TBAP/MeCN, followed by stripping for 2 min at +0.5 V vs. Ag in the same solution. A wave, due to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide on the silver nanoparticles is observed at –0.68 V vs. SCE. The limit of detection for this modified nanosilver electrode was 2.0×10^–6 mol L^–1 for hydrogen peroxide in phosphate buffer (0.05 mol L^–1, pH 7.4) with a sensitivity which is five times higher than that observed at a silver macro-electrode. Also observed is a shoulder on the voltammetric wave corresponding to the reduction of oxygen, which is produced by silver-catalysed chemical decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen then oxygen reduction at the surface of the glassy-carbon electrode.     

Enzyme sensor for L-lactate with a chitosan-mercury film electrode

Summary An amperometric enzyme sensor composed of a mercury film electrode and an enzyme-immobilized chitosan membrane is developed. This biosensor is based on both a mercury film electrode detecting the consumption of dissolved dioxygen following enzymatic reaction, and a chitosan membrane. The latter provides an excellent permselectivity and excludes electroactive interferents. The detection range of this biosensor was 1.0×10^–5–3.0×10^–4 mol/l and the relative standard deviation, R.S.D. at 5.0×10^–5 mol/l was 1.4% (n=3). This biosensor was applied to the direct determination of L-lactate in human serum without pretreatment.     

Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetric Determination of Phenol at an Electrochemically Pretreated Carbon-Paste Electrode with Solid Paraffin as a Binder

An adsorptive stripping voltammetric method for determination of phenol at an electrochemically pretreated carbon-paste electrode has been developed. Solid paraffin was used as the binder of the carbon-paste electrode. The carbon-paste electrode was pretreated in the solution of 0.001 mol L⁻¹NaOH by holding it at +1.8 V (versus an Ag/AgCl electrode) for 5 min. On the pretreated electrode, the adsorption of phenol was greatly enhanced. Phenol was accumulated in NH₃–NH₄Cl (pH 9.25) medium at the potential of +0.1 V (versus Ag/AgCl electrode) for a certain time and then determined by second order differential anodic stripping voltammetry. An oxidative peak was observed at about +0.66 V. The relationship between second order peak current and phenol concentration was linear in the range of 2.5 × 10⁻⁷–5.0 × 10⁻⁶mol L⁻¹phenol, and the detection limit was 5.0 × 10⁻⁸mol L⁻¹. The method has been applied to the determination of phenol in tap water and waste water. The relative standard deviation (six determinations) was less than 3.5%.     

Studies on the voltammetric behaviour of salicyl fluorone and gallium-salicyl fluorone complex

In the NH₄Cl supporting electrolyte, within the pH range from 1 to 5, an irreversible adsorptive reducing wave of salicyl fluorone(SAF) was obtained. The electrode process was verified as follow: On the surface of mercury electrode, the adsorption of SAF obeys Frumkin isotherm.In 0.2 mol/l potassium hydrogen phthalate/HCl buffer solution, at pH 3.0, the sensitive adsorptive complex wave of Ga-SAF was obtained by linear sweep voltammetry. The composition of the electroactive complex was determined as Ga:SAF = 11. The peak height of the complex is proportional to the concentration of Ga(III) in the range of 1.5 × 10^–9 to 6.0 × 10^–7 mol/l, the detection limit is 1.0× 10^–9 mol/l. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of gallium content in aluminium alloys.     

Adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination of 1-(4′-bromophenyl)-3,3-dimethyltriazene

The optimum conditions were established for the determination of the genotoxic substance 1-(4-bromophenyl)-3,3-dimethyltriazene by differential-pulse voltammetry at a hanging mercury drop electrode in the concentration range 1 × 10^–4 to 1 × 10^–7 mol dm^–3. The sensitivity of the determination can be improved through adsorptive accumulation of the investigated substance on the surface of the hanging mercury drop electrode: differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry can be used in the concentration range 1 × 10^–7 to 2 × 10^–10 mol dm^–3. The relative standard deviation (for ten determinations at 2 × 10^–10 mol dm^–3) was 7.5%.     

Use of ICP and XAS to determine the enhancement of gold phytoextraction by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Chilopsis linearis</Emphasis> using thiocyanate as a complexing agent

Under natural conditions gold has low solubility that reduces its bioavailability, a critical factor for phytoextraction. Researchers have found that phytoextraction can be improved by using synthetic chelating agents. Preliminary studies have shown that desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), a common inhabitant of the Chihuahuan Desert, is able to extract gold from a gold-enriched medium. The objective of the present study was to determine the ability of thiocyanate to enhance the gold-uptake capacity of C. linearis. Seedlings of this plant were exposed to the following hydroponics treatment: (1) 5 mg Au L^–1 (2.5×10^–5 mol L^–1), (2) 5 mg Au L^–1+10^–5 mol L^–1 NH₄SCN, (3) 5 mg Au L^–1+5×10^–5 mol L^–1 NH₄SCN, and (4) 5 mg Au L^–1+10^–4 mol L^–1 NH₄SCN. Each treatment had its respective control. After 2 weeks we determined the effect of the treatment on plant growth and gold content by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP–OES). No signs of shoot-growth inhibition were observed at any NH₄SCN treatment level. The ICP–OES analysis showed that addition of 10^–4 mol L^–1 NH₄SCN increased the concentration of gold by about 595, 396, and 467% in roots, stems, and leaves, respectively. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies showed that the oxidation state of gold was Au(0) and that gold nanoparticles were formed inside the plants.     

Fabrication of a novel Li<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>MoO<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">y</Emphasis></Subscript> film modified electrode and its application as an electrochemical sensor of iodate

A novel organic gel film modified electrode was simply and conveniently fabricated by casting Li_xMoO_y and polypropylene carbonate (PPC) onto the surface of a gold electrode. The cyclic voltammetry and amperometry studies demonstrated that the Li_xMoO_y film modified electrode has a high stability and a good electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of iodate. In amperometry, a good linear relationship between the steady current and the concentration of iodate was obtained in the range from 3×10^–7 to 1×10^–4 mol L^–1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9997 and a detection limit of 1×10^–7 mol L^–1.     

Determination of Teturam in Aqueous–Alcoholic Solutions by Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry at a Silver Electrode

The conditions for the determination of teturam in aqueous–alcoholic solutions by cathodic stripping voltammetry at a silver electrode were found. The detection limit for teturam electroaccumulated for 5 min in a 50% C₂H₅OH solution alkalized with NaOH to pH 12.7 was 5.6 × 10^–5 M (relative standard deviation of 5%) and the upper boundary of analytical range was 5 × 10^–4 M (relative standard deviation of 1.5%).