Cathodic stripping voltammetric determination at a hanging mercury drop electrode of the environmental heavy metal precipitant trimercapto-s-triazine (TMT).
Trimercapto-s-triazine (TMT) is available commercially for precipitating heavy metals in effluents prior to discharge and for recovering silver and copper. The TMT content of an effluent for discharge is normally monitored down to about 2 ppm by means of its UV absorption at 285 nm. Indirect cathodic-stripping voltammetric methods of determining TMT at sub-ppb levels in standard solutions are reported here. These methods might prove suitable for the determination of TMT in effluent at levels lower than is currently possible. TMT can be accumulated and determined indirectly at pH 9.0 as its mercury salt down to sub-ppb levels. Accumulation is made at 0 V and the mercury TMT reduction peak is at -0.47 V. Alternatively, by adding nickel(II), TMT can be determined optimally at pH 7.8, using the catalytic nickel peak at -0.73 V and accumulating between -0.10 and -0.60 V: at this pH the HgTMT peak at -0.47 V is small. At slightly higher pH (pH 8.6) the nickel TMT complex can be accumulated directly at -0.40 V, but at this pH, however, a slightly increased sensitivity can be achieved by accumulating TMT as its mercury salt, at -0.1 V in the presence of nickel(II), the nickel TMT complex being formed during the potential sweep on the release of the TMT when the mercury salt is reduced. Unlike many other thiols TMT is not accumulated as its copper(I) salt on addition of copper(II) to the solution.
Catalytic cathodic stripping voltammetry of oxidized glutathione at a hanging mercury drop electrode in the presence of nickel ion.
Oxidized glutathione (GSSG) can be determined after previous accumulation on the HMDE at E > -0.2 V (vs. the Ag AgCl reference electrode). GSH is formed during the accumulation, possibly by a mercury-ion-assisted hydrolytic disproportionation of GSSG. In the subsequent cathodic scan GSH is released and catalyses the reduction of nickel ion, giving a peak located at -0.6 V. This enables the determination of GSSG by differential-pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry at pH 7.0 in the phosphate acetate or MOPS buffer containing 0.5-1.0 mM Ni(II). The detection limit is 10 nM. The calibration graph is linear even in the presence of small amounts of human serum albumin, HSA. However, HSA increases the detection limit (20 nM for 3 x 10(-4)% HSA). Acetyl-cysteine in small excess or Cu(II) present as reagent impurity do not interfere. Glutathione, cysteine and similar compounds, which accumulate as mercury salts and form stable nickel complexes, will interfere. The method is put forward as a novel alternative stripping voltammetric method to those involving accumulation and determination as mercury or copper salts and complexes, in the knowledge that it may have advantages in particular analytical situations. In particular the method discriminates against compounds which accumulate as mercury salts but which do not form stable nickel complexes.
The determination of platinum in sea water by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry
Abstract The catalytic effect of the formazone complex with platinum on the development of hydrogen at a mercury electrode is used to provide a very sensitive method of determining dissolved platinum in fresh and sea water by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry. The optimal analytical conditions include the addition of 0.012% (w/v) formaldehyde, 0.0015% (w/v) hydrazine and 0.5 M sulphuric acid to the sea water. The complex is adsorbed for 1–20 min at −0.925 V on the hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by a differential-pulse scan in a negative direction. The hydrogen reduction peak catalysed by the platinum complex appears at −1.045 V. The limit of detection is 0.04 pM Pt with an adsorption time of 10 min, which is quite sufficient to determine dissolved platinum in sea water. The interference of surface-active compounds is eliminated by ultraviolet irradiation of the acidified sample. The method is applied to several sea-water samples. Comparative experiments showed that stripping chronopotentiometry is not sufficiently sensitive to determine platinum in sea water without preconcentration.