Electrocatalytic Detection of Amitrole on the Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube – Iron (II) tetra-aminophthalocyanine Platform.docVIP

Sensors 2008, 8, 5096-5105; DOI: 10.3390/s8085096 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /sensors Article Electrocatalytic Detection of Amitrole on the Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube – Iron (II) tetra-aminophthalocyanine Platform Msimelelo Siswana 1, Kenneth I. Ozoemena 2,* and Tebello Nyokong 1 1 Department of Chemistry, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; E-Mail: msiswana@wsu.ac.za (M.S.); T.Nyokong@ru.ac.za (T.N) 2 Molecular and Nanomaterials Electrochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: kenneth.ozoemena@up.ac.za; Tel.: +27-12-420-2515; Fax: +27-12-420-4687 Received: 21 May 2008; in revised form: 9 June 2008 / Accepted:11 June 2008 / Published: 27 August 2008 Abstract: It is shown that iron(II) tetra-aminophthalocyanine complex electropolymerized onto a multi-walled carbon nanotube-modified basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode greatly enhanced the electrocatalytic detetion of amitrole (a toxic herbicide), resulting in a very low detection limit (0.5 nM) and excellent sensitivity of 8.80 ±0.44 μA/nM, compared to any known work reported so far. The electrocatalytic detection of amitrole at this electrode occurred at less positive potential (~0.3 V vs Ag|ACl) and also revealed a typical coupled chemical reaction. The mechanism for this response is proposed. The electrode gave satisfactory selectivity to amitrole in the presence of other potential interfering pesticides in aqueous solutions. Keywords: Amitrole, tetra-aminophthalocyanine, electropolymerization, multi walled carbon nanotubes, basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode  Sensors 2008, 8 5097 1. Introduction Amitrole (3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, Figure 1a) is a toxic non-selective herbicide used to control weeds in agriculture and along railway tracks [1]. In 1971, the use of th