A Highly Sensitive Disposable In-House Screen-Printed Electrodes for Determination of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoic Acid Aided by Essential Green Chemistry Tools: Application in Nile River Samples and Human Urine

Abstract

A green voltammetric method of analysis is proposed for the electrochemical determination of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (BHTCOOH); the major metabolite of the extensively consumed antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). Environmental contamination by BHTCOOH is unavoidable owing to recurrence human exposure for these chemicals so (BHTCOOH) was detected in human urine and Nile River water samples. BHTCOOH is investigated by applying square-wave voltammetry (SWV) at two in-house fabricated screen-printed electrodes (SPE); Screen-Printed Graphite Electrode (SPGE) and Graphene-Modified Screen-Printed Graphite Electrode (GM-SPGE). Cyclic voltammetric analysis is used to optimize the voltammetric conditions. BHTCOOH oxidation on the surface of the electrodes is found to be irreversible and diffusion controlled. Using our fabricated SPEs, a linearity range of 4.88–21.62 and 0.12–1.31 μg ml−1 with minimum detectability levels of 1.06 and 0.03 μg ml−1 are reached at the surface of the SPGE and GM-SPGE, respectively. Moreover, the greenness of the method is inspected and found to be “excellent,” owing to the use of limited amounts of less hazardous chemicals and hence reduced waste production. The developed method is then successfully applied on urine and Nile-River samples; being the major source of water in Egypt, thereby allow for an adequate assessment of risks to human health and safety.