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Electrochemical identification of endocrine-disrupting phenols and their complex mixtures in real samples using unmodified screen-printed electrodes.
1, 2 , 3 , * 3
1  University of Antwerp, A Sense Lab, Department of Bioscience Engineering, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
2  NANOlab Center of Excellence, University of Antwerp , Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp , Belgium
3  University of Antwerp
Academic Editor: Constantin Apetrei

https://doi.org/10.3390/CSAC2021-10557 (registering DOI)
Abstract:

The present work elucidates, for the first time, the electrochemical behavior of some of the most relevant endocrine-disrupting phenols using unmodified carbon screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). The electrochemical reversibility and mass-transport mechanism of phenol (PHOH), pentachlorophenol (PCP), 4-tert octylphenol (OP) and bisphenol A (BPA) were studied with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), respectively. Subsequently, the electrochemical oxidation of the aforementioned phenols is revealed for the entire pH range (from 2 to 12) using a Britton Robinson (BR) buffer via square wave voltammetry (SWV). Furthermore, the stability of the redox behavior of the four different phenols is investigated at their optimal pH (pH=12) over time. Calibration curves exhibit a linear range between 5 and 50 µM with excellent peak potential (Ep) and peak current (Ip) reproducibility (RSDPHOH Ep = 0.69% and RSDPHOH Ip = 2.36%, RSDPCP Ep = 0.49% and RSDPCP Ip = 4.14%, RSDOP Ep = 1.55% and RSDOP Ip = 8.38%, and RSDBPA Ep = 1.15% and RSDBPA Ip = 0.31% at 10 µM, N=3) and limits of detection (LOD) of LODPHOH = 0.93 ± 0.02 µM, LODPCP = 0.92 ± 0.09 µM, LODOP = 0.33 ± 0.03 µM and LODBPA = 0.18 ± 0.01 µM. Afterwards, binary and complex mixtures of phenols were effectively analyzed in the BR buffer (pH 12) using SWV to investigate their electrochemical fingerprint. Finally, the approach was validated with real samples from a local river and compared with lab-bench standard method (high-performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD)).

Keywords: phenols; endocrine-disrupting chemicals; electrochemical fingerprints; unmodified screen-printed electrodes; phenol mixtures; real samples.
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