Potential of the analyte pulse perturbation technique for the determination of

Abstract

This paper introduces the use of the analyte pulse perturbation technique to the Belousov–Zhabotinskii reaction, developed in a continuous-flow stirred-tank reactor, in quantitative oscillating reaction-based determinations. This straightforward, expeditious approach was tested on the kinetic determination of various polyphenols (hydroquinone, catechol, resorcinol, pyrogallol and gallic acid) by their perturbation on the oscillating reaction. The proposed method relies on the relationship between changes in the oscillation amplitude of the chemical system and the analyte concentration, which is revealed for the first time in this work. The dynamic range is between 0.3–6.0 μmol and the method features good precision (RSD ca. 2%) and excellent throughput (60 samples h⁻¹); the latter is a result of the expeditiousness with which regular oscillations are regained after each perturbation. The potential mechanism of action of polyphenols on the oscillating system is discussed.