The polarographic and voltammetric determination of trypane blue

Abstract

The reduction of mutagenic bisazodye trypane blue has been studied at a mercury electrode, a mechanism has been proposed and optimal conditions found for its analytical application. The use of a dropping mercury electrode with a renewable surface yielded a detection limit of 8 . 10-7 mol l-1 for TAST polarography, and 8 . 10-8 mol l-1 for differential pulse polarography; the use of a hanging mercury drop electrode with an unrenewed surface during the measurement yielded detection limit of 6 . 10-8 mol l-1 for fast scan differential pulse voltammetry and 4 . 10-8 mol l-1 for linear scan voltammetry. Preliminary adsorptive accumulation of the determined substance on the surface of the hanging mercury drop electrode led to a decrease in the detection limit to 5 . 10-9 mol l-1 for linear scan voltammetry.