Electrochemical quantification of propoxur using a boron-doped diamond electrode

• Propoxur (PPX) is carbamate pesticide used to control pests.
• First non-modified sensor for PPX quantification
• Quantification of PPX without the need of any derivatization process
• The proposed method is simple and suitable for routine applications.
• Application in analysis for environmental purposes

The present paper presents the results of an electrochemical study and proposes an electrochemical method to quantify the carbamate pesticide, propoxur, using a cathodically pre-treated boron-doped diamond electrode without any derivatization processes, which are commonly used for the electrochemical detection of this pesticide class. Propoxur undergoes an irreversible oxidation process with a well-defined peak in aqueous solutions with single electron transfer and no proton under the pH range studied. Using a differential pulse voltammetry technique under the optimized conditions, the analytical curve was obtained from 1.66 to 155 μmol L–1 with a limit of detection of 0.50 μmol L–1 and a low relative standard deviation of 0.88%. The accuracy of the proposed method was tested using various water samples and a propoxur-containing commercial product by spiking a known quantity of the pesticide. The recoveries ranged from 86.7 to 103%. Overall, the suggested method is simple, reliable and well suited for both routine analysis in the laboratory and in-field analysis.

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