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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