Improved electroanalytical characteristics for flumetralin determination in the presence of surface active compound

ABSTRACT The use of square wave voltammetry (SWV) and square wave adsorptive stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV) in conjunction with a cyclic renewable silver amalgam film electrode for the determination of flumetralin is presented. Poor separation of two overlapped reduction peaks is significantly improved when hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide is used as a component of the supporting electrolyte solution (together with BR buffer pH 9.5). The SW technique parameters were investigated and found optimal as follows: frequency 50 Hz, amplitude 40 mV, and step potential 5 mV. Accumulation time and potential were studied to select the optimal conditions in adsorptive voltammetry. The analytical curve was linear for the flumetralin concentration range from 1.0 × 10-6 to 1.0 × 10-5 mol dm-3 and from 5.0 × 10-9 to 1.0 × 10-7 mol dm-3 for SWV and SWAdSV, respectively. Detection limit of 6.5 × 10-10 mol dm-3 was calculated for accumulation time 60 s at -0.2 V. The repeatability of the method was determined at a flumetralin concentration level equal to 5.0 × 10-9 mol dm-3 and expressed as %RSD = 5.0% (n = 6). The proposed method was applied and validated successfully by studying the recovery of herbicide content in spiked environmental samples. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT