Simple, Rapid and Sensitive Electrochemical Method for the Determination of the Triketone Herbicide Sulcotrione in River Water Using a Glassy Carbon Electrode

We report a novel, simple, rapid and sensitive electrochemical method for the determination of sulcotrione, a member of the relatively new class of triketone herbicides, using differential pulse voltammetry on a glassy carbon electrode. Its electrochemical behavior including influences of electrolyte composition, pH and scan rate was studied to select optimal experimental parameters for its determination. In Britton-Robinson buffer at pH 3 sulcotrione provided a well-defined reduction peak at -0.84 V (vs. Ag/AgCl electrode), with good repeatability (relative standard deviation of 2.3% for 8 measurements at 10 mu M concentration level). With optimized parameters differential pulse voltammetry rendered two linear concentration ranges from 0.2 to 2 mu M and from 2 to 50 mM with a detection limit of 0.05 mu M. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to the determination of sulcotrione in spiked river water samples with satisfactory recoveries (93-109%). The developed method may represent a simple, rapid and sensitive alternative to highly toxic mercury electrodes and chromatographic methods.