Simultaneous and selective electrochemical determination of hydroquinone, catechol and resorcinol at...

The electrochemical behavior of phenolic isomers hydroquinone (HQ), catechol (CC) and resorcinol (RC) was examined in poly(1,5-diaminonaphthalene)/glassy carbon-modified electrode (P1,5-DAN/GC M.E.) by cyclic voltammetry (CV), square wave voltammetry (SWV) and chronoamperometry (CA) techniques in perchloric acid (HClO₄) and phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 7.0). P1,5-DAN/GC M.E. was investigated for simultaneous determination of HQ, CC and RC in single, binary and ternary systems. Oxidation peak potentials were negatively shifted with increasing oxidation peak current for HQ, CC and RC at P1,5-DAN/GC M.E. compared with bare GC electrode. The obtained results illustrate that the former electrode exhibits better performance towards the three isomers in PBS rather than in HClO₄ solution. The catalytic currents for different concentrations of HQ, CC and RC showed good relationship in the range of 0.1-100 μM for all analytes and low detection limits (LOD) of 0.034, 0.059 and 0.14 μM for them, respectively, in a ternary system in PBS at pH 7.0. This method has been practically applied for the detection of these isomers in tap water with acceptable results.