Voltammetric determination of pentachlorophenol at a glassy carbon electrode

Abstract

An electroanalytical study of the pentachlorophenol oxidation process at a glassy carbon electrode in aqueous solution using different voltammetric techniques has been carried out. The results obtained by differential-pulse voltammetry allowed a method to be developed for the determination of pentachlorophenol in the ranges 1.0 × 10^–5–10.0 × 10^–5 and 2.0 × 10^–6–10.0 × 10^–6 mol l^–1, using ΔE= 50 mV. The coefficient of variation is 2.3% for a concentration of 5.0 × 10^–5, mol l^–1, with a limit of determination of 1.5 × 10^–6 mol l^–1 and a limit of detection of 4.5 × 10^–7 mol l^–1. The effect of other chlorophenols has been studied. Good results were obtained by applying the proposed differential-pulse voltammetric method to the determination of pentachlorophenol in a commercial fungicide.