Rapid determination of phenolic compounds in water samples by alternating-current oscillopolarographic titration

A rapid, simple and sensitive method was demonstrated for the determination of phenolic compounds in water samples by alternating-current oscillopolarographic titration. With the presence of sulfuric acid, phenol could be transferred into a nitroso-compound by reacting with NaNO2. The titration end-point was obtained by the formation of a sharp cut in the oscillopolarographic with infinitesimal NaNO2 on double platinum electrodes. The results showed that phenol concentration had an excellent linear relationship over the range of 4.82 × 10-6-9.65 × 10-3 mol/L, the RSD of the proposed method was lower than 1.5%, and the spiked recoveries of three real water samples were in the range of 95.6%-106.9%.