Flow-injection methods for the determination of uracil derivatives with voltammetric detection

Flow-injection methods are described for the determination of 18 uracil derivatives and related compounds, by means of differential-pulse amperometry (d.p.a.) or differential-pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry (d.p.c.s.v.). The carrier stream is a borax/KNO₃/HNO₃ (of NaOH) solution containing 0.001% (v/v) Triton X-100. This surfactant displaces the oxygen reduction peak to such negative potentials that deaeration is unnecessary for detection of compounds having peak potentials in the range 180–70 mV (vs. Ag/AgCI) at pH 7.6. At the hanging mercury drop electrode, the uracil derivative is deposited from the flowing sample at a fixed potential more positive than the relevant peak potential and stripped under stopped-flow or slow-flow conditions. In the amperometric mode, a constant potential also more positive than the relevant peak potential is applied to the dropping mercury electrode and the resulting peak is measured under flow conditions. Linear calibration graphs were found for most of the compounds at 10^?6–10^?7 M by d.p.a, and about one order of magnitude lower by d.p.c.s.v.. The limit of determination for 5-iodouracil was 5×10^?9 M (ca. 1.2 ng ml^?1). Separation is needed for applications to blood or urine. Simple deproteination followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with a reversed-phase column proved satisfactory. Separations of various uracil derivatives, and of 5-fluorouracil, uric acid and 5-fluorodeoxyuridine, are described; spectrophotometric and amperometric detectors were used sequentially to check performance.     

Flow-injection analysis with a small cylindrical wire type electrode

An amperometric detector with a small thin mercury film electrode is described. The device demonstrates advantageous operational characteristics such as small dispersion (D<2) and “memory effect” (me<0.6%), extensive maximum sample frequency (msf −200 samples/h), and high sensitivity. It has been proven useful in flow-injection analysis at a constant potential under hydrodynamic conditions.     

Preconcentration and voltammetric measurement of mercury with a crown-ether modified carbon-paste electrode

Carbon-paste electrodes modified with crown-ethers were constructed by mixing the crown-ethers into a graphite powder/Nujol oil matrix. The electrodes so formed were able to bind mercuric ions chemically, and gave greater voltammetric response to mercury than that of ordinary carbon-paste electrodes. The response was characterized with respect to paste composition, crown-ether, preconcentration period, mercury concentration, reproducibility, possible interferences, and other variables. Best results were obtained with 18-crown-6 and an acetate buffer (pH 4.0). The electrode gave good linearity for 1 x 10(-5)-6 x 10(-6)M mercury, a detection limit of 2 x 10(-6)M, and a relative standard deviation of 11%. The investigation may lead to a new class of modified (complexing) electrodes, with different patterns of reactivity.     

NADH oxidation on screen-printed electrode modified with a new phenothiazine diazonium salt

NADH oxidation catalysts are extremely important in the field of electrochemical biosensors and enzymatic biofuel cells. Based on the growing diazonium chemistry, we synthesized the diazonium salt of the well-known NADH mediator toluidine blue O. The electrochemical reduction of the diazonium moiety by cyclic voltammetry onto a screen-printed electrode leads to an electrocatalyst suitable for the oxidation of NADH. The amperometric response for its oxidation shows a maximal current of 1.2 μA ([NADH] = 100 μM). Based on electrochemical measurements, the surface coverage is found to be 3.78 × 10^? 11 mol cm^? 2 and the heterogeneous standard rate constant k_h is 1.21 ± 0.16 s^? 1. The sensitive layer for the oxidation of NADH is improved by electrografting the diazonium salt with a potentiostatic method. Both the surface coverage and the heterogeneous standard rate constant k_h are improved and found to be 6.08 ± 0.63 × 10^? 11 mol cm^? 2 and ~ 5.02 s^? 1, respectively. The amperometric response is also improved by an 8 fold factor, reaching 9.87 μA ([NADH] = 120 μM). These remarkably high values for screen-printed electrodes are comparable to glassy carbon electrodes making this method suitable for low-cost bioelectronical devices.     

Differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetric determination of traces of copper with a tobramycin-Nafion modified electrode.

A Nafion-modified glassy carbon electrode incorporated with tobramycin for the voltammetric stripping determination of Cu2+ has been explored. The electrode was fabricated by tobramycin containing Nafion on the glassy carbon electrode surface. The modified electrode exhibited a significantly increased sensitivity and selectivity for Cu2+ compared with a bare glassy carbon electrode and the Nafion modified electrode. Cu2+ was accumulated in HAc-NaAc buffer (pH 4.6) at a potential of -0.6 V (vs. SCE) for 300 s and then determined by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry. The effects of various parameters, such as the mass of Nafion, the concentration of tobramycin, the pH of the medium, the accumulation potential, the accumulation time and the scan rate, were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, a linear calibration graph was obtained in the concentration range of 1.0 x 10(-9) to 5.0 x 10(-7) mol l(-1) with a correlation coefficient of 0.9971. The relative standard deviations for eight successive determinations were 4.3 and 2.9% for 1.0 x 10(-8) and 2.0 x 10(-7) mol l(-1) Cu2+, respectively. The detection limit (three times signal to noise) was 5.0 x 10(-10) mol l(-1). A study of interfering substances was also performed, and the method was applied to the direct determination of copper in water samples, and also in analytical reagent-grade salts with satisfactory results.     

Flow-injection determination of iodide with a silver electrode

A procedure is developed for the flow-injection determination of iodide using a modified silver electrode; it extends the analytical range of iodide by an order of magnitude as compared to potentiometric determination using an iodide-selective electrode with a polycrystalline membrane. The detection limit is 7 μg/L. The procedure was used to determine iodide in natural mineral waters and model solutions. The throughput was 20–25 samples/h.     

Sensitive voltammetric detection of clomipramine at 16-mercapto-hexadecanoic acid self-assembled monolayer modified gold electrode

Clomipramine, an effective and important antipsychotic drug with low redox activity and poor hydrophilicity, was found to effectively accumulate on hydrophobic 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (i.e. MHA) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) modified gold electrode (i.e. MHA/Au) and generating a sensitive anodic peak at about 0.86 V (vs. SCE) in 0.05 M Tris–HCl (pH = 8.1) buffer solution. Thus, quantitative measurement of clomipramine was established with high sensitivity under optimum conditions. The anodic peak current was linear to clomipramine concentration in the range from 1 × 10⁻⁶ to 5 × 10⁻⁵ M, with a detection limit of 6 × 10⁻⁹ M. This method was successfully applied to the detection of clomipramine in drug tablets and proved to be reliable compared to UV. The spectral features, electrochemical characteristics and wettability of MHA-SAM were also studied. Correspondence: Jilie Kong, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P.R. China     

Electrocatalytic detection of NADH and ethanol at glassy carbon electrode modified with electropolymerized films from methylene green

The oxidation of NADH on electropolymerizing methylene green (MG)-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) is described. The modified electrode shows an excellent electrocatalytic activity toward NADH oxidation, reducing its overpotential by about 650 mV and exhibits a wide linear range of 5.6–420 μM NADH with the detection limit of 3.8 μM. The electrode displays a good reproducibility and stability and the coexisting species does not affect the determination of NADH. The application in the amperometric biosensing of ethanol using alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme (ADH) also has been demonstrated with this electrode. MG-modified GCE can not only be used to detect NADH in biochemical reaction, but also can be used as the potential matrix of the construction of dehydrogenases biosensor.     

Differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination of dinoseb and dinoterb at a modified electrode.

A sensitive adsorptive stripping voltammetric method for the determination of dinitrophenolic herbicides, dinoseb (DSB) and dinoterb (DTB) at a bare carbon paste electrode (CPE) and a clay modified carbon paste electrode (CMCPE) was developed. A systematic study of various experimental conditions, such as the pH, accumulation variables and composition of a modifier on the adsorptive stripping response, were examined by using differential pulse voltammetry. A significant improvement was observed in the sensitivity by using the present method with CMCPE. When CMCPE was used, a linear response was obtained over the concentration range 2 x 10(-10) to 3 x 10(-7) M and 6 x 10(-10) to 6 x 10(-7) M with lower detection limits of 1 x 10(-10) M and 5.4 x 10(-10) M for dinoseb and dinoterb, respectively, at an accumulation time of 100 s. The interference from other herbicides and ions on the stripping signals of both compounds was also evaluated. The described method was applied to estimate of the dinoseb and dinoterb in environmental samples.     

Differential pulse voltammetric determination of aniline with a carbon paste electrode modified by sepiolite

Summary The determination of aniline by means of a carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with 10% sepiolite was studied using differential pulse voltammetry. The best pre-concentration was achieved at pH 6.9 over 5 min and the besti _p in the measuring cell was obtained at pH 1.5 using E = 100 mV and a scan rate of 40 mV/s.Under these conditions detection limits (10 ) of 15 ng/ ml were obtained. The method was applied to different beverages without the need for prior separation.

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Differentialpuls-voltammetrische Bestimmung von Anilin mit einer Sepiolit-modifizierten Kohlepaste-Elektrode

     

Benzoquinone modified electrode for sensing NADH and ascorbic acid

A benzoquinone modified basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode shows electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of NADH and ascorbic acid in phosphate buffer (pH 7.3). The modified electrode shows a linear variation of catalytic current with concentration in the range 1-10 mM for both NADH and ascorbic acid. The rate constants have been estimated from the surface coverage data.     

Application of ionic liquid modified carbon ceramic electrode for the sensitive voltammetric detection of rutin

An ionic liquid (IL) modified carbon ceramic electrode (CCE) was designed and further used for the voltammetric detection of rutin in this paper. IL-CCE was prepared by mixing graphite powder with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIMBF₄) doped silicate sol-gel matrix together and further characterized by different methods. Then electrochemical behaviors of rutin on the IL-CCE were investigated by different electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Due to the presence of IL in the CCE, an enhanced electrochemical response of rutin appeared with a pair of well-defined redox peaks in pH 2.5 phosphate buffer solution (PBS). The electrochemical behaviors of rutin on the IL-CCE were carefully investigated. Under the selected conditions the oxidation peak currents exhibited good linear relationship with the rutin concentration in the range from 0.3 to 100.0 μmol/L with the detection limit as 0.09 μmol/L (3σ). The proposed method was further applied to the rutin tablets sample detection with satisfactory results.     

Flow-injection determination of phosphate with a cadmium ion-selective electrode

A flow-injection method is described, in which phosphate standards are introduced into a reagent stream containing Cd(2+) ,resulting in the formation of Cd(3)(PO(4))(2). The associated reduction in free metal concentration is sensed by a cadmium-selective electrode. With the exception of major interference from iodide and moderate interference from bromide and thiocyanate, the system exhibits excellent response to phosphate and selectivity over several common anions in solutions buffered at pH 8.4. A maximum sampling rate of 160/hr is possible for phosphate standards in the concentration range 10(-1)-10(-1)M with a 10(-4)M Cd(2+) reagent stream at a total flow-rate (carrier and reagent stream combined) of 8.4 ml/min.     

Selectivity of voltammetric determination at an ion-exchanger modified electrode

An expression of the selectivity value for the voltammetric determination of an ionic analyte in the presence of interfering component(s) at an electrode chemically modified with an ion-exchanger has been developed and applied to the analysis of a model metal-ion mixture. Using distribution coefficient values, the predicted selectivity value was calculated and compared with that obtained experimentally. The approach allows a choice of the ion-exchange resin and experimental conditions for a given analytical task.     

Flow-injection analysis with a coated tubular solid-state copper(II)-selective electrode

The incorporation, behaviour and suitability of a home-made coated tubular solid-state copper(II)-selective electrode into the conduits of a flow-injection system is described. The compact tubular sensor (volume 7.8 μl) is constructed from a copper tube and Tygon tubing, treated with ammonium sulphide to give the copper/copper sulphide electrode and conditioned in an ascorbic acid medium. Interferences of foreign ions are similar to those found in batch analysis, but are less severe in the flow-injection system. Changes in carrier stream pH between 1 and 3 affected the electrode response, but sample pH has no or little influence in the range 1–7 depending on the copper(II) ion concentration in the samples. With 30-μl samples the flow-through electrode system covers a working range up to 5000 mg dm^?3 with a detection limit of 0.5 mg dm^?3. The system is suitable for the determination of copper(II) in effluent and tap water (relative standard deviation < 1.75% for 0.5–912 mg dm^?3 copper) and acidic copper sulphate plating solutions (relative standard deviation < 1.21% for 87–4135 mg dm^?3 copper) at a sample frequency of about 80 h^?1. The results obtained agree well with results by a standard atomic absorption spectrometric method.     

A selective voltammetric method for uric acid detection at beta-cyclodextrin modified electrode incorporating carbon nanotubes

A beta-cyclodextrin-coated electrode incorporating carbon nanotubes was constructed and applied to the detection of uric acid in the presence of high concentration of ascorbic acid. The major obstacle of the overlapped oxidation potential of ascorbic acid was overcome owing to the distinct ability of the carbon nanotubes-modified electrode to yield a large anodic peak difference ca. 400 mV. The sensitive detection of uric acid has been further improved by the formation of a supramolecular complex between beta-cyclodextrin and uric acid. A linear calibration curve was obtained for 5 x 10(-7) to 5 x 10(-5) M in 0.2 M HAc-NaAc buffer (pH 4.5) with correlation coefficient of 0.998 and detection limit of 0.2 microM. The practical analytical application was illustrated by a selective measurement of uric acid in human urine without any preliminary treatment.     

Boron-doped carbon nanotubes modified electrode for electroanalysis of NADH

Boron-doped carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) as a novel carbon nanomaterial have higher catalytic activity. Electroanalysis of dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) based on the BCNTs modified electrode has been investigated. Comparing with the bare glassy carbon (GC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/GC electrodes, the BCNTs/GC electrode allowed highly sensitive amperometric detection of NADH at the lower applied potential, and minimization of surface contamination. Therefore, BCNTs are useful and promising material for the detection of NADH and are attractive for dehydrogenase-based amperometric biosensor or other analytical applications.     

Stripping voltammetric determination of platinum metals at a carbon paste electrode modified with cationic surfactants

In this contribution, a novel method is described for the determination of platinum metals. The procedure developed employs a carbon paste electrode modified in situ with cationic surfactants of the quaternary ammonium salt type. The pre-concentration step is based on a specific accumulation mechanism involving ion-pair formation; the detection being performed by cathodic scanning in the differential pulse voltammetric mode. Regarding the individual forms of platinum metals, the method has been found convenient for the determination of three heavy platinum metals in the form of Pt(IV), Ir(III) and Os(IV), whereas for the remaining elements (Ru, Rh, and Pd) was almost inapplicable. Platinum metals of the former group can be pre-concentrated in chloride-containing supporting media via PtCl₆²⁻, IrCl₆³⁻ and OsCl₆²⁻ complex anions, the central atom of each species being fairly reducible during the voltammetric scan. Stripping signals for both platinum and iridium were proportional to the concentration in a range of 1-10 × 10⁻⁶ M Pt(IV) and Ir(III); the response for osmium being linear within 0.1-6 × 10⁻⁷ M Os(IV) with a detection limit of about 5 × 10⁻⁹ mol l⁻¹. During optimisation, special attention was paid to the accumulation mechanism, choice of key experimental conditions, and to interference effects from foreign ions with potentially ion-pairing capabilities (AuCl₄⁻, TlCl₄⁻, CrO₄²⁻, MnO₄⁻, SCN⁻, and I⁻). The method elaborated has been tested on both model solutions and real samples of industrial waste water, showing in both cases satisfactory analytical performance.