Manganese(II) hexacyanoferrate based renewable amperometric sensor for the determination of butylated hydroxyanisole in food products

A novel amperometric sensor based on chemically modified electrode for the determination of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in food materials is described. The sensor was constructed by graphite-wax composite method with manganese(II) hexacyanoferrate (MnHCF) as electrocatalyst. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were employed to characterize the electrochemical behavior of the modified electrode. The MnHCF modified graphite-wax composite electrode exhibits an excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of BHA‘ at a reduced overpotential of 250 mV in comparison to the unmodified graphite-wax composite electrode. Influence of parameters such as scan rate, pH and applied potential on the electrocatalytic response was also studied. The modified electrode showed a wide linear dynamic range of 4.998 × 10−7 M–1.429 × 10−3 M with a detection limit of 5 × 10−8 M and a correlation coefficient of 0.9996 based on S/N = 3. The MnHCF modified electrode has been successfully applied for the assay of BHA in spiked commercial samples of dry potato chips. The sensor was found to exhibit a high current sensitivity, a short response time, a good reproducibility (relative standard deviation (RSD) < 2%) and stable response for the determination of BHA and has the merit of surface renewability. Hence the method can be employed for routine analysis of BHA in food samples.