Polarographic determination of adrenaline from the catalysed wave of germanium(IV)

Abstract

Adrenaline catalyses the reduction of germanium(IV) at the dropping-mercury electrode in perchloric acid media. The catalytic polarographic wave obtained has been studied in detail and a mechanism is proposed for the electrode process, which involves the information of a catalytic complex between protonated H₂GeO₃ and adrenaline adsorbed on to the surface of the electrode process, which involves the formation of a catalytic complex regeneration of the catalytic ligand. For the determination of adrenaline the best system has been found to be 1.5 × 10^–2M germanium(IV)- 1 M perchloric acid with ascorbic acid as antioxidant at a concentration below 1 × 10^–2%. The calibration graph is linear over the range of adrenaline concentrations 3 × 10^–5–70 × 10^–5M. An application of the method to injectable solutions is described.