Methylmercury (MeHg) is one of the most toxic organic mercury compounds found in the environment. The continuous exposure of human beings to this highly toxic compound may damage their nervous system. The present work reports the development and application of a novel electrochemical sensing technique for the quantification of MeHg using a modified carbon paste electrode with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) combined with ion imprinted polymer, which is highly selective toward MeHg (CPE/MWCNTs/IIP-MeHg) detection. The ion imprinted polymer was synthesized using 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), acrylic acid (AA) and MeHg employed as ligand, functional monomer and template ion, respectively, and the synthesized material was characterized by Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDX. Both the proposed and control sensors were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance s...

The present study reports the simultaneous determination of dipyrone and codeine by a simple, fast and low-cost method using carbon black paste electrode (CBPE) modified with α-cyclodextrin (CD) and hierarchical porous carbon (HPC). Using optimum conditions, the CD-HPC/CBPE sensor proposed in this study presented excellent electrochemical catalysis. Based on square wave voltammetry (SWV) analysis, linear concentration ranges of 0.46 to 35 µmol L−1 and 0.5 to 38 µmol L−1 were obtained for dipyrone and codeine, respectively, with nanomolar limits of detection for both analytes. The proposed sensor exhibited good stability, satisfactory repeatability and high sensibility in the determination of the analytes of interest. The application of the sensor in real samples was found to be successful, with recovery rates ranging from 96 to 106%. The method proposed in this study was found to ...

This work reports the fabrication of a novel electrochemical sensor for the detection of the complex ion [Cu(CN)3](aq)2−, one of the main components of the effluents from cyanide alkaline copper plating baths. This sensor was prepared by using a surface modified glassy carbon (GC) electrode with 1,8-dihydroxyantroquinone (1,8-DHAQ). It was characterized by electrochemical impedance, Raman spectroscopy and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The electrochemical detection of [Cu(CN)3](aq)2−was performed by differential pulse voltammetry. The 1,8-DHAQ/GC electrochemical sensor exhibits good reproducibility and a linear range of 5.50 × 10−7–3.81 × 10−6 mol L−1, with a detection limit (LOD) of 1.20 × 10−6 mol L−1, quantification limit (LOQ) of 3.97 × 10−6 mol L−1, and robustness to interfering Cl−, NO3−, SO42− y CO32− ions. Finally, a DFT approach suggests an almost par...

Methylmercury (MeHg+) is a mercury species that is very toxic for humans, and its monitoring and sorption from environmental samples of water are a public health concern. In this work, a combination of theory and experiment was used to rationally synthesize an ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) with the aim of the extraction of MeHg+ from samples of water. Interactions among MeHg+ and possible reaction components in the pre-polymerization stage were studied by computational simulation using density functional theory. Accordingly, 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI) and 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), acrylic acid (AA) and ethanol were predicted as excellent sulfhydryl ligands, a functional monomer and porogenic solvent, respectively. Characterization studies by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) revealed the obtention of porous materials with specific surface areas...