Electrochemical Detection of Carbamate Pesticides at Conductive Diamond Electrodes

Conductive boron-doped diamond thin-film electrodes were used for the electrochemical detection of selected N-methylcarbamate pesticides (carbaryl, carbofuran, methyl 2-benzimidazolecarbamate, bendiocarb) after liquid chromatographic separation. Two kinds of detection methods were adopted in this study. In the first method, a direct detection of underivatized pesticides was carried out at an operating potential of 1.45 V versus Ag/AgCl, which resulted in the detection limits of 5-20 ng/mL (or 5-20 ppb) with S/N = 2 due to the low background current and wide potential window of the diamond electrode. In the second method, the detection limits were improved by subjecting the pesticide samples to alkaline hydrolysis in a separate step prior to injection. The phenolic derivatives obtained by alkaline hydrolysis oxidize at a relatively lower potential (0.9 V vs Ag/AgCl), which increases the sensitivity drastically. The advantage of the diamond electrode for the detection of phenolic derivatives is that it offers excellent stability in comparison to other electrodes. This method gives the detection limits of 0.6-1 ng/mL (or 0.6-1 ppb), which are well below the maximum residue levels allowed for carbaryl, carbofuran, and bendiocarb. While the lowest detection limits (LOD) obtained by the direct detection of pesticides are comparable to the those reported by the well-established HPLC-fluorescence, the LODs of the alkaline hydrolysis method are found to be even lower than the reported limits. On-line reactivation of the diamond electrode surface was shown to be possible by an anodic treatment of the electrode at approximately 3 V for 30 min in case of electrode fouling, which may occur after a prolonged use. Such a treatment damages the glassy carbon (GC) and metal electrodes, while the diamond electrode remains stable. These results suggest that the diamond electrode is superior to the other previously used electrodes such as GC and Kelgraf type for highly sensitive and stable detection of carbamate pesticides.