Investigation of anodic behaviour of phenylethers in non-aqueous solvents on platinum and glassy carbon electrodes

Detection of Residual 2-Phenylphenol on Lemon Rind by Electrochemically Deposited Poly(hydroxybenzaldehyde) and Poly(hydroxybenzoic acid) Polymeric Stackings as Electrode Modifiers

This study explores the characteristics of electrodeposition of the three hydroxybenzaldehyde isomers and selected hydroxybenzoic acids (4-hydroxybenzoic acid, salicylic acid, 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid) from mesityl oxide solvent. Similar to recent advances of this solvent, used by electrochemical studies, the carbon-carbon double bond had significant influence on the formation of polymers from the outlined molecules. In case of most substrates the peak currents increased to a steady-state but electropolymerization of some substrates caused significant deactivation. Scanning electron microscopic and complementary voltammetric studies facilitated that the electrochemically formed polymers are present on the electrode surface in stackings. In viewpoint of analysis of 2-phenylphenol, the modifying deposit formed from 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde was the best with 5 µM detection limit obtained with differential pulse voltammetry. Furthermore, a new procedure was chosen for the involvement of a cavitand derivative into the organic layers with the purpose to improve the layer selectivity (subsequent electrochemical polymerization in an other solution). Further studies showed that in this way the sensitivities of as-modified electrodes were a little worse than without this step, thus indicating that application of this step is disadvantageous. Recovery studies of 2-phenylphenol were carried out on lemon rind without any treatment, and it was compared with the case when the outer yellow layer was removed by rasping. The inner tissues showed very high adsorption affinity towards 2-phenylphenol.

Anodic Polymerization of Phenylphenols in Methyl Isobutyl Ketone and Mesityl Oxide: Incorporation of a Cavitand into the Layers Formed for Sensing Phenols in Organic Media

The electropolymerization of three phenylphenol isomers was studied in methyl isobutyl ketone and mesityl oxide, and the remarkable differences highlighted the importance of the carbon–carbon double bond in mesityl oxide. In the case of each substrate, a brownish deposit formed during the electrooxidation. The obvious difference between the polymers formed from the two solvents was recognized via voltammetric signal enhancement of 4-methoxyphenol and 4-chlorophenol, and it was only observed in the case of mesityl oxide. The experiments highlighted that incorporation of a cavitand with biphenyl groups on the upper rim of the polymers of phenylphenols improved the results to a small extent. The cavitand was, itself, electroactive without any fouling effect. As 2-phenylphenol is by far the cheapest of the three isomers, a cavitand was incorporated into its polymer, which was exploited to solve analytical problems while mesityl oxide was used as solvent. Useful quantifications were achieved in organic solvents; however, it failed under aqueous conditions due to the high hydrophobicity of the deposit. Application of differential pulse voltammetry for 4-methoxyphenol and 4-chlorophenol gave detection limits of 9.28 and 50.8 μM in acetonitrile, respectively. This procedure resulted in the immobilization of cavitand derivatives onto the electrode’s surface, and the layer formed offered selective sensing of phenols by electrochemical methods.