An Alternative Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Copper and Lead for Quality Control of Sugar Cane Spirit using a Nanotube-Based Sensor

The development of an electroanalytical method for simultaneous determination of copper and lead ions in sugar cane spirit (cachaca) using carbon paste electrode modified with ascorbic acid and carbon nanotubes (CPE-AaCNT) is described. Squarewave voltammetry (SWV) with anodic stripping was employed, and this technique was optimized with respect to the following parameters: frequency (50 Hz), amplitude (100 mV) and scan increment (9 mV). The analytical curves were linear in the range from 0.0900 to 7.00 mg L-1 for lead and copper. The limits of detection were 48.5 and 23.9 mu g L-1 for lead and copper, respectively. The developed method was applied to the simultaneous determination of copper and lead in five commercial samples of sugar cane spirit. The results were in good agreement with those obtained by F AAS/GF AAS (flame atomic absorption spectrometry/graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry) and showed that CPE-AaCNT can be successfully employed in the simultaneous determination of these metals in real sugar cane spirit samples.Universidade Federal de Vicosa (UFV)Universidade Federal de Vicosa (UFV)Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA)Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA)Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP