Dynamic response characteristics of the potentiometric carbon dioxide sensor for the determination of aspartame

The dynamic response characteristics of a carbon dioxide gas sensor were studied to determine the potential for application of the device to the kinetic assay of substrate(s) under pseudo first-order kinetics. The dependence of the time constant on the concentration of carbon dioxide was determined by using convolution mathematics to analyse potentiometric changes caused by abrupt alterations of gas concentration. The operational conditions of the CO2 sensor were optimised for the development of enzyme electrodes, so that the mass-transport phenomena occurring during the course of the enzymic reactions were enhanced. As a result, the kinetic analysis of substrate(s) was performed more rapidly (2-6 min), with greater sensitivity and with an improved detection limit (10-5 M). A kinetic reaction-rate method for the determination of aspartame in dietary foodstuffs is proposed as a rapid and inexpensive alternative to a classical high-performance liquid chromatographic method.