Selective determination of epinephrine in the presence of ascorbic acid and uric acid by electrocatalytic oxidation at poly(eriochrome black T) film-modified glassy carbon electrode.

An electropolymerized film of eriochrome black T (EBT) has been prepared at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The poly(EBT) membrane at GCE exhibits an excellent electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of epinephrine (EP), ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) in acidic solution and reduced the overpotential for the oxidation of EP. The poly(EBT)-coated electrode could separately detect EP, AA and UA in their mixture with the potential differences of 180 and 160 mV for EP-AA and UA-EP, respectively, which are large enough to allow for determination of EP in the presence of AA and UA. Using differential pulse voltammetry, the peak current of EP recorded in pH 3.5 solution was linearly dependent on EP's concentration in the range of 2.5 - 50 microM. Due to its good selectivity and stability, the polymer-coated GCE was successfully applied to the determination of EP in real samples.