Carbon nanoparticles with tosyl functional group for distinguishing voltammetric peaks of ascorbic acid and uric acid

Abstract

In this approach, electro-oxidation of a mixture of uric acid and ascorbic acid at the surface of tosyl surface carbon nanoparticles/glassy carbon electrode has been performed. The electro-oxidation of these compounds at bare electrode is sluggish and there is no suitable peak separation between them. However, using functionalized carbon nanoparticles, two well-defined anodic peaks with a considerable enhancement in the peak current and a remarkable peak potential separation near 452 mV is obtained. The porous interfacial layer of the carbon nanoparticles modified electrode with a high specific surface area increases the conductive area; molecules can penetrate through the conductive porous channels onto the electrode more easily so leading to higher sensitivity and selectivity. The dynamic linear ranges of 1.0 × 10(-5) to 3.0 × 10(-3)M and 1.0 × 10(-7) to 1.0 × 10(-4)M with detection limits 1.0 × 10(-5)M and 2.0 × 10(-8)M (for S/N=3) were obtained for ascorbic acid and uric acid, respectively. Analytical utility of the modified electrode has been examined successfully using human urine samples and vitamin C commercial tablets.

Keywords: Ascorbic acid; Tosyl functionalized carbon nanoparticles; Uric acid; Voltammetric sensor.