Study of the Electrochemical Behavior and Sensitive Detection of Pesticides Using Microelectrodes Allied to Square‐Wave Voltammetry

This work describes the application of gold and carbon fiber microelectrodes allied to square‐wave voltammetry for the study of the electrochemical behavior of the organophosphorous insecticides (methyl parathion and dichlorvos) and bipyridilium herbicides (paraquat and diquat), and the development of the sensitive methodology for their analytical determinations in natural water samples. The microelectrodes were lab‐made constructed and their electrochemical behavior was characterized by measuring the electrochemical response with a solution of potassium ferricyanide. The experimental and voltammetric conditions to obtain the best analytical signal, in terms of intensities and profile of the peak voltammetric, for four pesticides were optimized and the results were used to evaluate the type of the electrochemical redox process and to appraise the number of electrons covered in each reduction process that occurred for pesticides and also, to propose a possible redox mechanism for a reduction process of pesticides at microelectrodes. Analytical curves were constructed and presented the linear relationships between the peak currents and the concentration of pesticides, for this, the detection limits for pure water (laboratory samples) for four pesticides were calculated and presented values under 15 μg L^?1, lower than maximum limit for drinking water (100 μg L^?1) permitted by Brazilian Council for groundwater, indicating that the methodology could be employed to analyze those pesticides in natural water samples.     

Sensitive Determination of the Diquat Herbicide in Fresh Food Samples on a Highly Boron‐Doped Diamond Electrode

The highly boron‐doped diamond electrode (HBDD) combined with square wave voltammetry (SWV) was used in the development of an analytical procedure for diquat determination in potato and sugar cane samples and lemon, orange, tangerine and pineapple juices. Preliminary experiments realised in a medium of 0.05 mol L^?1 Na₂B₄O₇ showed the presence of two voltammetric peaks around ?0.6 V and around ?1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl/Cl^? 3.0 mol L^?1, where the first peak could be successfully used for analytical proposes due the facility in the electrode surface renovation. After the experimental and voltammetric optimisation, the calculated detection and quantification limits were 1.6×10^?10 mol L^?1 and 5.3×10^?10 mol L^?1 (0.057 µg L^?1 and 0.192 µg L^?1, respectively), which are lower than the maximum residue limit established for fresh food samples by the Brazilian Sanitary Vigilance Agency. The proposed methodology was used to determine diquat residues in potato and sugar cane samples and lemon, orange, tangerine and pineapple juices and the calculated recovery efficiencies indicated that the proposed procedure presents higher robustness, stability and sensitivity, good reproducibility, and is very adequate for diquat determination in complex samples.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of diquat by manual and flow-injection methods

A reliable, highly sensitive and selective method is described for the determination of the herbicide diquat in different materials. It involves the formation of a stable radical obtained by reduction of diquat with sodium dithionite. The radical is a very fluorescent species (φ_F=0.37), and there is a linear relationship between diquat concentration and fluorescence intensity over the range 3–900 μg l^?1. The limit of detection is 0.4 μg l^?1. The method can be successfully adapted as a flow system using a two-channel manifold, the peak height being proportional to the diquat concentration over the range 18–4000 μg l^?1. Manual and flow-injection methods were successfully applied to the determination of diquat in commercial herbicides, waters, potatoes, flowers and soils. Both procedures were also been applied to the determination of diquat in serum and urine without prior preparation of the samples and with good results.     

Constraining the Teratogenicity of Pesticide Pollution by a Synthetic Nanoreceptor

The teratogenicity of the pesticide nereistoxin (NTX) and its derivative thiocyclam (THI) towards aquatic life was dramatically constrained by a synthetic nanoreceptor, cucurbit[7]uril, through selective encapsulation of the pesticides (K_CB[7]‐NTX of 3.24(±0.31)×10⁶ m ^?1 and K_CB[7]‐THI of 7.46(±0.10)×10⁵ m ^?1), as evidenced by the rate of hatchability, morphology development, and tyrosinase activity of zebrafish larvae incubated with the pesticides (3–300 μm ) in the absence and in the presence of 300 μm cucurbit[7]uril, demonstrating the significant potential of the nanoreceptor in managing ecological pollution of these pesticides.     

Imprinted Polymer – Modified Hanging Mercury Drop Electrode for Differential Pulse Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetric Analysis of a Diquat Herbicide

An imprinted polymer modified hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) in Model 303A system in conjunction with a PAR Model 264A Polarographic Analyzer/Stripping Voltammeter has been used for the selective analysis of a diquat herbicide viz., 5,6‐dihydropyrazino[1,2,3,4‐[lmn]‐1,10‐phenanthrolinium dichlorides in differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry mode. Complex aqueous samples (drinking water and agricultural soil suspension), spiked with a diquat herbicide, were directly analyzed by the adsorptive accumulation of the analyte over the working electrode (accumulation potential ?0.8 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), accumulation time 120 s, pH 7.0, supporting electrolyte 0.1 M KCl, scan rate 10 mV s^?1, pulse amplitude 25 mV). The limit of detection for diquat herbicide was found to be 0.34 nmol L^?1 (0.1 ppb, RSD 2%, S/N=2).     

Square‐Wave Voltammetric Determination of Paraquat at Carbon Paste Electrode Modified with Hydroxyapatite

The voltammetric behavior of paraquat was investigated at hydroxyapatite‐modified carbon paste electrode HAP‐CPE in K₂SO₄. A method was developed for the detection of the trace of this herbicide, based on their redox reaction. The reduction peaks of paraquat were observed around ?0.70 V and ?1.00 V (vs. SCE) in square‐wave voltammetry. Experimental conditions were optimized by varying the accumulation time, apatite loading and measuring solution pH. Calibration plots were linear under the optimized parameters over the herbicide's concentration range 8–200×10^?7 mol L^?1, with a detection and quantification limits about 1.5×10^?8 mol L^?1 and 6.4 10^?8 mol L^?1, respectively.     

Adsorption and desorption of tributyltin in sediments of San Diego Bay and Pearl Harbor

Adsorption and desorption of butyltin compounds from sediment under simulated estuarine conditions depends upon the characteristics of the sediment including grain size distribution, percentage of organic carbon, clay mineralogy and aqueous butyltin concentration in the overlying water column. Sediments from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA, primarily consisting of calcium carbonate mud and 18–28% organic carbon by weight, have generally abundant adsorption sites and display tributyltin partition coefficients (K_p) ranging from 1000 to 5000 μg kg^?1 per μdm^?3. Adsorption and desorption of butyltin from San Diego Bay, California, USA, sediments is linearly dependent upon the characteristics of each sediment and the range in K_p values is from approximately 20 to 2500 μg kg^?1 per μg dm^?3. Sandy, low-organic carbon sediments have low K_p while fine-grained, relatively organic-rich sediments have high K_p values. Similarly, samples containing significant amounts of high cation exchange capacity (CEC) clay minerals have relatively higher adsorption potentials than those consisting of low CEC minerals.     

Sensitive and Profitable Electrochemical Detection of Uric Acid in the Presence of Dopamine with a Novel Carbon Paste Electrode Decorated with a Copper(II) Complex

A new microcomposite with copper(II) complex and carbon paste (Cu_C/CPE) was developed to determine the uric acid (UA) content in the presence of dopamine (DP) and was characterized via cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed high selectivity for UA compared with DP because the anodic peak currents for DP were near those of a CPE without Cu_c and were considerably increased for UA. The UA and DP increases were 86.9 % and 14.3 %, respectively, according to CV and 96.6 % and 25.5 %, respectively, according to square wave voltammetry (SWV) with the Cu_C/CPE. Moreover, the anodic peak separation for UA and DP was 0.17 V. With optimal parameters (pH, 3.3; adsorption time(t_ADS), 30 s;adsorption potential (E_ADS)_, 0.10 V), the anodic peak currents for UA were proportional to concentrations between 1.6 and 14.4 μmol L^?1 using standard solutions with UA concentrations ranging from 8.0–40.5 μmol L^?1 and real samples. The UA detection limit was 0.13 μmol L^?1. The new sensor was used to determine the UA contentin human urine samples, and the method was checked with a urine chemistry control from Bio‐Rad based on human urine spiked with quantities of UA and showed a recovery between 84 % and 106 % at concentrations below 10.0 μmol L^?1.     

pH-controlled quaternary ammonium herbicides capture/release by carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin functionalized magnetic adsorbents: Mechanisms and application

In our work, the pH-controlled magnetic solid phase extraction for the determination of paraquat and diquat was introduced firstly. Furthermore, to clarify the mechanism of carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin functionalized magnetic adsorbents, we studied the pH-responsive supramolecular interaction between carboxymethyl-β-cyclodextrin (CM-β-CD) and paraquat/diquat by ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment, and the energy-minimized structures were also obtained. Then, the functional group CM-β-CD was modified on the surface of magnetic materials to synthesize the adsorbent. The Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR) results proved the successful modification of CM-β-CD. Thus, this absorbent was applied for the determination of paraquat and diquat in water. Under the optimal condition, limits of detection (LODs) of paraquat and diquat were 0.8 μg L⁻¹ and 0.9 μg L⁻¹, relative standard deviations (RSD) and recoveries varied 0.7–4.6% and 86.5–106.6%, respectively. Good recoveries (70.2–100.0%) and low RSD (1.7–9.6%) were achieved in analyzing spiked water samples. Furthermore, with the capillary electrophoresis (CE) as the analyser, the whole analytical process did not need the attendance of organic solvents.     

Determination of three Tumor Biomarkers (Homovanillic Acid,Vanillylmandelic Acid,and 5‐Hydroxyindole‐3‐Acetic Acid) Using Flow Injection Analysis with Amperometric Detection

Flow injection analysis with amperometric detection (FIA‐AD) at screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) in optimum medium of Britton‐Robinson buffer (0.04 mol ? L^?1, pH 2.0) was used for the determination of three tumor biomarkers (homovanillic acid (HVA), vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), and 5‐hydroxyindole‐3‐acetic acid (5‐HIAA)). Dependences of the peak current on the concentration of biomarkers were linear in the whole tested concentration range from 0.05 to 100 μmol ? L^?1, with limits of detection (LODs) of 0.065 μmol ? L^?1 for HVA, 0.053 μmol ? L^?1 for VMA, and 0.033 μmol ? L^?1 for 5‐HIAA (calculated from peak heights), and 0.024 μmol ? L^?1 for HVA, 0.020 μmol ? L^?1 for VMA, and 0.012 μmol ? L^?1 for 5‐HIAA (calculated from peak areas), respectively.     

Thermokinetic Study on the Reversible Competitive Inhibition of Bovine Liver Arginase

Introduction Arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) is a widespread and very im-portant enzyme in mammals, which specifically cata-lyzes the hydrolysis of L-arginine to urea and the non-protein amino acid L-ornithine, a key step in the urea cycle.1 Urea is the principal metabolite for disposal of nitrogen as a neutral and nontoxic waste product formed during amino acid metabolism in mammals. L-ornithine serves as a biosynthetic precursor to L-proline and the polyamines such as putrescine, sper-mine (in eucar…     

A rare case for binding a diquat salt by two cyclo[6]aramides

The non-aggregational cyclo[6]aramide has demonstrated 2:1 host–guest complexation towards diquat with very strong binding ability (K₁ = 5.41 × 10⁴ M^? 1, K₂ = 4.33 × 10⁶ M^? 1). The donor–acceptor binding process of the macrocycle and the quaternary salt was investigated by ¹H NMR, ESI mass spectrometry and UV–vis spectroscopy. The binding mode is supported by both experiments and theoretical simulations. This work provides the first example of using recently developed H-bonded aromatic oligoamide macrocycles for binding diquat in solution.     

Complexes of Diquat with Dibenzo-24-Crown-8

The complexation between dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 ( 1 ) and diquat ( 2 ) was investigated in detail by NMR, MS and X‐ray analysis. It was found that dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 and diquat formed a 1:1 complex 1 · 2 in acetone with K_a=2.0×10² L·mol^?1, but, as shown by X‐ray analysis, a crystalline 2:1 host:guest inclusion complex 1 ₂· 2 was isolated, in which a single molecule of diquat is enclosed in the concave cavity provided by two dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 host molecules. Both results are different from the previously assumed stoichiometry of the complexation between dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 and diquat. This result enriches the range of host‐guest complexes based on dibenzo‐24‐ crown‐8 and provides new opportunities for developing more complicated structures and chemosensors for diquat.     

Glucose Biosensor Based on the Fabrication of Glucose Oxidase in the Bio-Inspired Polydopamine-Gold Nanoparticle Composite Film

A highly efficient enzyme immobilization method has been developed for electrochemical biosensors using polydopamine films with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) embedded. This simple enzyme fabrication method can be performed in very mild conditions and stored in a long time with high bioactivity. The fabricated amperometric glucose biosensor exhibited a high and reproducible sensitivity, wide linear dynamic range and low limit of detection (LOD) (0.1 μmol·L^?1). A low value of 1.5 mmol·L^?1 for the apparent Michaelis‐Menten constant K^app_M was obtained. The high sensitivity, wide linear range, good reproducibility and stability make this biosensor a promising candidate for portable amperometric glucose biosensor.     

Kinetic Studies on Na^＋／K^＋-ATPase by Using Thermokinetic Method

Introduction Na+/K+-ATPase (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3) is an important membrane-bound enzyme. It catalyzes the hydrolysis of ATP, and uses the energy from the reaction to maintain the low internal sodium and high internal potassium concentrations characteristic of most animal cells. So it has been convincingly identified with the sodium pump. The kinetics of Na+/K+-ATPase has been extensively researched by classical methods such as spectrophotometry, 32-ATP isotopic determinatio…     

Electrochemical determination of paraquat using a DNA-modified carbon ionic liquid electrode

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was electrochemically deposited on a carbon ionic liquid electrode to give a biosensor with excellent redox activity towards paraquat as shown by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Experimental conditions were optimized with respect to sensing paraquat by varying the electrochemical parameters, solution pH, and accumulation time of DNA. Under the optimized conditions, a linear relation exists between the reduction peak current and the concentration of paraquat in the range from 5?×?10^?8 mol L^?1 to 7?×?10^?5 mol L^?1, with a detection limit of 3.6?×?10^?9 mol L^?1. The utility of the method is illustrated by successful analysis of paraquat in spiked real water samples.

Kinetic Studies on the Reaction of Sodium Hexacyanoferrate（ll） Complex with Peroxydisulfate Anion

The oxidation of Na₄Fe(CN)₆ complex by S₂O anion was found to follow an outer‐sphere electron transfer mechanism. We firstly carried out the reaction at pH=1. The specific rate constants of the reaction, k_ox, are (8.1±0.07)×10^?2 and (4.3±0.1)×10^?2 mol^?1·L·s^?1 at μ=1.0 mol·L^?1 NaClO₄, T=298 K for pH=1 (0.1 mol·L^?1 HCl0₄) and 8, respectively. The activation parameters, obtained by measuring the rate constants of oxidation 283–303 K, were ΔH^≠=(69.0±5.6) kJ·mol^?1, ΔS^≠=(?0.34±0.041)×10² J·mol^?1·K^?1 at pH=l and ΔH^≠=(41.3±5.5) kJ·mol^?1, ΔS^≠=(?1.27±0.33)×10² J·mol^?1·K^?1 at pH=8, respectively. The cyclic voltammetry of Fe(CN) shows that the oxidation is a one‐electron reversible redox process with E_1/2 values of 0.55 and 0.46 V vs. normal hydrogen electrode at μ=1.0 mol·L^?1 LiClO₄, for pH=1 and pH=8 (Tris). respectively. The kinetic results were discussed on the basis of Marcus theory.     

Thermokinetic Studies on the Activation of Arginase by Glycine

The activation of bovine liver arginase, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of L‐arginine to L‐ornithine and urea, by glycine was studied by thermokinetic methods at 37°C in 40 mmol·L^?1 sodium barbiturate‐HCl buffer solution (pH 9.4). Results of this experiment indicate that an appropriate concentration of glycine can enhance the activity of arginase, and the relative activation rate reached its maximum value, 74%, when the concentration of glycine in reaction system was 1 mmol·L^?1 and the initial concentration of arginine was 5 mmol·L^?1. With the increase of substrate concentration, the relative activation rate decreased in a definite glycine concentration. Michealis constant K_m of reaction decreased from 5.53 to 3.31 mmol·L^?1 and inhibition constant of product L‐ornithine K_p increased from 1.18 to 3.73 mmol·L^?1 when glycine concentration was 1 mmol·L^?1. For these reasons one possible activation mechanism of arginase by glycine was suggested that the activation effect results from the competition of glycine and arginine to enzyme activity position. When one or two of the activity positions of arginase are occupied by glycine, it is propitious for the enzyme to complex with substrate and obstruct L‐ornithine from combining with enzyme, and when all of the activity positions are occupied by glycine, the activation effect vanishs and the inhibition effect appears.     

Voltammetric Determination of Cymoxanil and Famoxadone at Different Types of Carbon Electrodes

Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) at a carbon fibre rod electrode (CFRE) and a capillary carbon paste electrode (CPE) have been used for the determination of pesticides cymoxanil and famoxadone, respectively. In the cathodic potential range, optimum conditions were found for the determination of cymoxanil by DPV at CFRE at pH 4 with limit of quantification (L_Q) of 5.9×10^?7 mol L^?1. In the anodic area, determination of famoxadone by DPV at CPE was performed at optimum pH 2 with L_Q=1.4×10^?7 mol L^?1. Practical applicability of the newly developed methods was verified on spiked samples of river water and soil.     

On the Utilization of Boron Doped Diamond Electrode as a Sensor for Parathion and as an Anode for Electrochemical Combustion Of Parathion

This work proposes the utilization of a boron doped diamond (BDD) electrode as a sensor for pesticides and as well as an anode for electrochemical combustion of Parathion in spiked, pure and natural waters. The square‐wave voltammetry was selected as the electroanalytical technique and the Britton–Robinson buffer as the electrolyte. The electrochemical reduction responses of Parathion were analyzed and compared with those previously obtained using a hanging mercury electrode (HMDE). The detection and quantification limits were calculated from the analytical curves both for BDD and HMDE in Milli‐Q water (2.4 and 7.9 μg L^?1 and 3.9 and 12.8 μg L^?1 respectively) showing only a slight improvement when used BDD. However, if the application involves polluted natural waters the improvement is accentuated due to the very low adsorption characteristics of BDD, which prevent the fouling of electrode surface by organic pollutants. The BDD was also used as anode for electrochemical remediation of Parathion contamination. In this case, electrolysis was carried out in high positive potential (3.0 V) and lead the electrochemical combustion of Parathion to CO₂ and H₂O, as measured by the diminishing of total organic carbon in the electrolyte.