Ion-selective electrode for aluminum determination in pharmaceutical substances, tea leaves and water samples

A novel ion-selective PVC membrane sensor for Al(III) ions based on 6-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-phenyl-4-(thiophen-2-yl)-3,5-diaza-bicyclo[3.1.0]hex-2-ene (NTDH) as a new ionophore has been prepared and studied. The electrode exhibit a good response for aluminum ion over concentration range of 1.0 × 10−6 to 1.0 × 10−1 mol L−1 with a Nernstian slope of 19.6 ± 0.4 mV per decade and low detection limit of 6.3 × 10−7 mol L−1. The best performance was obtained with membrane composition 30% poly(vinyl chloride), 62% acetophenone, 5% oleic acid, 3% ionophore and 2 ml tetrahydrofuran. NTDH-based electrode was suitable for aqueous solutions of pH 3. It has relatively fast response time (∼10 s) and can be used at least for 3 months without any considerable divergence in potentials. The proposed membrane electrode revealed good selectivity for Al(III) ions over a wide variety of other cations. The standard electrode potentials were determined at different temperatures and used to calculate the isothermal coefficient of the electrode. The formation constant and stoichiometry ratio of ionophore–Al(III) complex were calculated at 25 °C by using segmented sandwich membrane method. It was used in non-aqueous solvents and also as indicator electrode in potentiometric determination of Al(III) ions in some real samples.