Primary amine drug sensitive electrodes based on macrocyclic polyethers with 2,2′-dinaphthyl subunits

Dinaphthyl macrocyclic polyethers were synthesized and used as neutral carriers for preparing primary amine drug sensitive PVC membrane electrodes. Contrary to the ion-associate based electrodes, which show an excellent potentiometric response to quaternary ammonium ions and the like, but a very poor response to primary amines, the macrocyclic polyether-based electrodes showed potentiometric response characteristics with primary amines preferred. Dinaphthyl macrocyclic polyether-based electrodes are superior to those based on common macrocyclic polyethers for their potentiometric selectivity coefficients much lower than those of the latter. The main characteristics of a dinaphthyl-20-crown-6-based benzyl amine sensitive electrode are as follows: linear response range, 4.2 × 10^–5 – 1.0 ×10^–1 M; slope, 51.3 mV/decade; and detection limit, 4.6 × 10^–6 M. A mexiletine sensitive electrode was prepared using dinaphthyl-23-crown-7 with following performance features: linear response range, 2.0 × 10^–5 – 1.0 ×10^–1 M; slope, 52.1mV/decade; and detection limit, 5.0 × 10^–6 M.