38 research outputs found
Electroanalytical detection of pindolol: comparison of unmodified and reduced graphene oxide modified screen-printed graphite electrodes
Recent work has reported the first electroanalytical detection of pindolol using reduced graphene oxide
(RGO) modified glassy carbon electrodes [S. Smarzewska and W. Ciesielski, Anal. Methods, 2014, 6, 5038]
where it was reported that the use of RGO provided significant improvements in the electroanalytical
signal in comparison to a bare (unmodified) glassy carbon electrode. We demonstrate, for the first time,
that the electroanalytical quantification of pindolol is actually possible using bare (unmodified) screenprinted
graphite electrodes (SPEs). This paper addresses the electroanalytical determination of pindolol
utilising RGO modified SPEs. Surprisingly, it is found that bare (unmodified) SPEs provide superior electrochemical
signatures over that of RGO modified SPEs. Consequently the electroanalytical sensing of
pindolol is explored at bare unmodified SPEs where a linear range between 0.1 μM–10.0 μM is found to
be possible whilst offering a limit of detection (3σ) corresponding to 0.097 μM. This provides a convenient
yet analytically sensitive method for sensing pindolol. The optimised electroanalytical protocol using the
unmodified SPEs, which requires no pre-treatment (electrode polishing) or electrode modification step
(such as with the use of RGO), was then further applied to the determination of pindolol in urine samples.
This work demonstrates that the use of RGO modified SPEs have no significant benefits when compared
to the bare (unmodified) alternative and that the RGO free electrode surface can provide electro-analytically
useful performances