Indirect amperometric detection of underivatized amino acids in microcolumn liquid chromatography with carbon film based ring-disk electrodes

Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composite Ring-disk Electrode: Fabrication, Characterization and Application to Electrochemical Detection in Capillary High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Carbon fiber/epoxy composite materials, which are manufactured using the pultrusion process, are commercially available in various shapes and sizes at very low cost. Here we demonstrate the application of such a material as an electrochemical detector in a flow system. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the material's electrochemical behavior resembles that of glassy carbon. Using tube and rod composites, we successfully fabricated a ring-disk electrode with a 20 μm gap between the ring and the disk. The narrow gap is favorable for mass transfer in the generator-collector experiment. This composite ring-disk electrode is assembled in a thin-layer radial-flow cell and used as an electrochemical detector. The disk electrode, placed directly opposite to the flow inlet, is operated as a generator electrode with the ring electrode being a collector. The high collection efficiency on the ring electrode (0.8 for a chemically reversible species) enhances the detection selectivity.

Photometric detection of cyclodextrins in liquid chromatography by using iodine generated electrochemically in-situ

A method has been developed for photometric detection of cyclodextrins (CD) in liquid chromatography using iodine (I2) generated electrochemically in-situ. Iodide ion in the mobile phase was electrochemically oxidized to I2 which was subsequently reacted with I-, in an electrochemical flow cell, forming I3-. The absorbance of I3- was found to be greatly enhanced when CD were present in the mobile phase. The absorbance enhancement was caused by the change in the mole fraction of I3-, because of the inclusion reaction of I3- with CD. On the basis of this phenomenon, CD were detected by means of a photodiode-array UV-visible detector positioned downstream of the electrochemical flow cell. The signals were found to be linearly dependent on CD concentration. Because the formation constants of I3- with CD decrease in the order alpha-CD>beta-CD>gamma-CD, alpha-CD was most detectable by the method. Detection limits were 1.0 micromol L(-1) for alpha-CD, 65 micromol L(-1) for monoG1-beta-CD, 100 micromol L(-1) for beta-CD, and 200 micromol L(-1) for gamma-CD.

A Miniaturized FIA System for the Determination of Residual Chlorine in Environmental Water Samples

The present study was aimed at developing a portable miniaturized FIA system with a two-electrode based amperometric detector for on-site monitoring of residual chlorine in environmental samples. The electrode potential control and current data collection were conducted with a home-designed potentiostat with a size of 150 x 100 x 40 mm and the weight of 350 g. It was confirmed that the amperometric response increased in proportion to the chlorine concentration up to 5 microg/ml, and the detection limit for chlorine was 0.05 microg/ml. Besides a drastic reduction in the size of the analytical system, such miniaturization achieved the advantages of increased speed, minimal mobile-phase consumption, and high sensitivity. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of residual chlorine in samples of pool water and tap water. The results were well agreed with those obtained by the N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DPD) photometric method.

Advances in the voltammetric analysis of small biologically relevant compounds

The problems associated with attempting to apply voltammetric techniques to the analysis of biologically relevant organics within complex media are identified and, through reviewing the very recent literature (1999-mid-2001), possible solutions are described. The boundaries of the search were limited to research targeted at the resolution of specific problems, associated with quantitative determinations. Various strategies have emerged to counter problems of poor sensitivity and selectivity and these have been summarized and critically appraised. Where possible, the characteristics of each approach have been distilled into a table format to ease comparison. Emphasis has been placed on the collation of information that will improve the intrinsic electrode response and as such should be of value to those interested in pursuing electroanalytical methodologies regardless of context.