Voltammetric Determination of Trace Amounts of 2‐Aminofluoren‐9‐one at a Mercury Meniscus Modified Silver Solid Amalgam Electrode

Abstract

AbstractVoltammetric behavior of the genotoxic environmental pollutant 2‐aminofluoren‐9‐one (2‐AFN) was investigated using direct current voltammetry (DCV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and adsorptive stripping differential pulse voltammetry (AdSDPV) at a mercury meniscus modified silver solid amalgam electrode (m‐AgSAE). Optimum conditions were found for its DCV and DPV determination in a methanolBrittonRobinson buffer pH 4.0 (1 : 9, v/v) medium (in a concentration range from 0.1 to 100 µmol L−1 of 2‐AFN) and for its AdSDPV determination in a 0.2 mol L−1 acetate buffer pH 4.0 medium (from 0.01 to 0.1 µmol L−1 of 2‐AFN), with limits of quantification (LQs) of 0.2, 0.1 and 0.005 µmol L−1 for DCV, DPV and AdSDPV, respectively. For comparison, the UV spectrophotometric (measured at 274 nm) and fluorimetric (measured at 460 nm, using the excitation wavelength of 314 nm) determination of 2‐AFN were carried out in methanol, with LQs of 0.1 and 2 µmol L−1, respectively. Practical applicability of the newly developed voltammetric methods was verified on direct determination of 2‐AFN in model samples of drinking and river water, with the lowest LQs in the range of 5–10 nmol L−1.