Rapid and Sensitive Quantification of the Pesticide Lindane by Polymer Modified Electrochemical Sensor.

Lindane is documented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the most toxic registered pesticides. Conventional detection of lindane in the environment requires manual field sampling and complex, time-consuming analytical sample handling relying on skilled labor. In this study, an electrochemical sensing system based on a modified electrode is reported. The system is capable of detecting lindane in aqueous medium in only 20 s. The surface of a conventional carbon electrode is modified with a film of conductive polymer that enables detection of lindane down to 30 nanomolar. The electrode modification procedure is simple and results in a robust sensor that can withstand intensive use. The sensitivity of the sensor is 7.18 µA/µM and the performance was demonstrated in the determination of lindane in spiked ground water. This suggests that the sensor is potentially capable of providing useful readings for decision makers. The rapid and sensitive quantification of lindane in aqueous medium is one step forward to new opportunities for direct, autonomous control of the pesticide level in the environment.

Recent Development on the Electrochemical Detection of Selected Pesticides: A Focused Review.

Pesticides are heavily used in agriculture to protect crops from diseases, insects, and weeds. However, only a fraction of the used pesticides reaches the target and the rest slips through the soil, causing the contamination of ground- and surface water resources. Given the emerging interest in the on-site detection of analytes that can replace traditional chromatographic techniques, alternative methods for pesticide measuring have recently encountered remarkable attention. This review gives a focused overview of the literature related to the electrochemical detection of selected pesticides. Here, we focus on the electrochemical detection of three important pesticides; glyphosate, lindane and bentazone using a variety of electrochemical detection techniques, electrode materials, electrolyte media, and sample matrix. The review summarizes the different electrochemical studies and provides an overview of the analytical performances reported such as; the limits of detection and linearity range. This article highlights the advancements in pesticide detection of the selected pesticides using electrochemical methods and point towards the challenges and needed efforts to achieve electrochemical detection suitable for on-site applications.

Electrochemical determination of bentazone using simple screen-printed carbon electrodes.

Bentazone is one of the most problematic pesticides polluting groundwater resources. It is on the list of pesticides that are mandatory to analyze at water work controls. The current pesticide measuring approach includes manual water sampling and time-consuming chromatographical quantification of the bentazone content at centralized laboratories. Here, we report the use of an electrochemical approach for analytical determination of bentazone that takes 10 s. The electrochemical electrodes were manually screen printed, resulting in the low-cost fabrication of the sensors. The current response was linearly proportional to the bentazone concentration with a R2 ~ 0.999. We demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.0987 µA/µM and a limit of detection of 0.034 µM, which is below the U.S. Health Advisory level. Furthermore, the sensors have proved to be reusable and stable with a drop of only 2% after 15 times reuse. The sensors have been applied to successfully quantify bentazone spiked in real groundwater and lake water. The sensing method presented here is a step towards on-site application of electrochemical detection of pesticides in water sources.

Simultaneous determination of caffeine and paracetamol by square wave voltammetry at poly(4-amino-3-hydroxynaphthalene sulfonic acid)-modified glassy carbon electrode.

Poly(4-amino-3-hydroxynaphthalene sulfonic acid)-modified glassy carbon electrode (poly(AHNSA)/GCE) was prepared for simultaneous determination of caffeine and paracetamol using square-wave voltammetry. The method was used to study the effects of pH and scan rate on the voltammetric response of caffeine and paracetamol. Linear calibration curves in the range of 10-125µM were obtained for both caffeine and paracetamol in acetate buffer solution of pH 4.5 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9989 and 0.9986, respectively. The calculated detection limits (S/N=3) were 0.79µM for caffeine and 0.45µM for paracetamol. The effects of some interfering substances in the determination of caffeine and paracetamol were also studied and their interferences were found to be negligible which proved the selectivity of the modified electrode. The method was successfully applied for the quantitative determination of caffeine and paracetamol in Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and tea samples.

Polymer-modified glassy carbon electrode for the electrochemical detection of quinine in human urine and pharmaceutical formulations.

Glassy carbon electrode was modified by electropolymerization of 4-amino-3-hydroxynaphthalene sulfonic acid. Cyclic voltammetric study of quinine showed higher current response at the modified electrode compared to the bare and activated glassy carbon electrodes in pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution. Under optimized conditions, a calibration curve was obtained by square wave voltammetry at the modified electrode. The linear relationship between the peak current and the concentration of quinine in the range of 1.0 × 10(-7) to 1.0 × 10(-5) M was I (pa) (in microamperes) = 6.26C (in micromolars) + 0.2997 (R (2) = 0.999). The detection limit calculated (S/N = 3) was 1.42 × 10(-8) M, which is much lower than similar reports. The method was successfully applied for the determination of quinine in spiked human urine, and pharmaceutical formulations and recovery values >90 % were obtained.