Voltammetric Determination of Genotoxic Nitro Derivatives of Fluorene and 9‐Fluorenone Using a Mercury Meniscus Modified Silver Solid Amalgam Electrode

Abstract Voltammetric behavior of selected genotoxic nitro compounds (2‐nitrofluorene, 2,7‐dinitrofluorene, 2‐nitro‐9‐fluorenone and 2,7‐dinitro‐9‐fluorenone) has been investigated using direct current voltammetry (DCV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and adsorptive stripping differential pulse voltammetry (AdSDPV) at a mercury meniscus modified silver solid amalgam electrode (m‐AgSAE). The optimum conditions have been found for their determination in a 1 : 1 mixture of methanol and aqueous Britton–Robinson buffer solution, with the limits of quantification, ( LOQ ), 2, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.5 μmol L −1 (DCV at m‐AgSAE) and 0.2, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.2 μmol L −1 (DPV at m‐AgSAE) for 2‐nitrofluorene, 2,7‐dinitrofluorene, 2‐nitro‐9‐fluorenone, and 2,7‐dinitro‐9‐fluorenone, respectively. An attempt at increasing the sensitivity using AdSDPV at m‐AgSAE was successful only for 2‐nitrofluorene ( LOQ =2 nmol L −1 ). Practical applicability of the newly developed methods was verified on direct determination of the studied compounds in drinking and river waters with LOQs ~ 10 −7 mol L −1 for all the studied compounds.