Electroanalytical Determination of Carbaryl in Natural Waters on Boron Doped Diamond Electrode

The anodic voltammetric behavior of carbaryl on a boron‐doped diamond electrode in aqueous solution is reported. The results, obtained by square‐wave voltammetry at 0.1 mol L^?1 Na₂SO₄ and pH 6.0, allow the development of a method to determine carbaryl, without any previous step of extraction, clean‐up, preconcentration or derivatization, in the range 2.5–30.0×10^?6 mol L^?1, with a detection limit of 8.2±0.2 μg L^?1 in pure water. The analytical sensitivity of this electrochemical method diminished slightly, from 3.07 mA mmol^?1 L to 2.90 mA mmol^?1L, when the electrolyte was prepared with water samples collected from two polluted points in an urban creek. In these conditions, the recovery efficiencies obtained were around 104%. The effect of other pesticides (fenthion and 4‐nitrophenol) was evaluated and found to exert a negligible influence on carbaryl determination. The square‐wave voltammetric data obtained for carbaryl were typical of an irreversible electrode process with mass transport control. The combination of square‐wave voltammetry and diamond electrodes is an interesting and desirable alternative for analytical determinations.