Sequential injection-adsorptive stripping voltammetric quantitation of purine nucleobases using an electrochemically activated carbositall electrode

•Properties of an electrochemically activated carbositall electrode were investigated.•Catalytic activity of the electrode toward oxidation of purine bases was evaluated.•Adsorption capacity of the activated carbositall electrode was studied.•A novel sequential injection-adsorptive stripping voltammetric method was developed.

The present paper describes an electroanalytical application of an activated carbositall electrode (ACSE) for the detection of purine nucleobases (adenine and guanine) and their derivatives by sequential injection-adsorptive stripping voltammetric approach (SI-AdSVA). It was found that ACSE characterized by significant electrocatalytic and adsorptive abilities toward investigated compounds over a wide pH range, good stability and reproducibility under the fixed hydrodynamic conditions. Utilizing on-line adsorption accumulation of an analyte during 120 s, the limit of detection (S/N = 3σ) was achieved down to 8 ng/mL (50 nM) and 10 ng/mL (75 nM) for guanine and adenine, respectively. It was demonstrated that the proposed SI-AdSVA method could be efficiently used for the routine analysis of real samples with satisfactory results.

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