A novel poly(taurine) modified glassy carbon electrode for the simultaneous determination of epinephrine and dopamine

A novel taurine modified glassy carbon electrode was prepared by electropolymerization method. The electrochemical behaviors of epinephrine (EP) and dopamine (DA) at the modified electrode were studied by cyclic voltammetry. The modified electrode exhibited enhanced sensitivity and excellent electrochemical discrimination to DA and EP. The cathodic peaks of the two species were well-separated with a potential difference of about 390 mV, so the poly(taurine) modified electrode was used for simultaneous voltammetric measurement of EP and DA by differential pulse voltammetry. Under the optimum conditions, the cathodic peak currents were linear to concentrations of EP and DA in the range of 2.0 × 10−6 to 6.0 × 10−4 mol L−1 and 1.0 × 10−6 to 8.0 × 10−4 mol L−1, respectively. The detection limits for EP and DA were 3.0 × 10−7 and 1.0 × 10−7 mol L−1, respectively. Because the oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA) is an irreversible reaction at modified electrode, the interference of AA for determining EP and DA was eliminated. The modified electrode has been satisfactorily used for the simultaneous determination of EP and DA in pharmaceutical injections.