Amperometric detection of hydroxypurines at an electrode modified with a composite based on mixed-valence ruthenium and cobalt oxides in flow injection analysis

A composite material based on mixed-valence ruthenium and cobalt oxides, electrodeposited on the surface of a screen printed electrode, exhibits high catalytic activity in the electrooxidation of uric acid, xanthine, and hypoxanthine. Catalysis manifests itself as a decrease in the substrate oxidation overvoltage and an increase in current at the potential of modifier oxidation. A method is proposed for the simultaneous amperometric detection of two-component systems uric acid–xanthine, xanthine–hypoxanthine, and uric acid–hypoxanthine using a screen printed electrode with two working electrodes modified by this composite. The dependence of the analytical signal on the concentration of analytes is linear in the range 5 × 10^–8 to 5 × 10^–3 M for uric acid and xanthine and from 5 × 10^–7 to 5 × 10^–3 M for hypoxanthine.