Voltammetric and amperometric determination of biologically active organic compounds using various types of silver amalgam electrodes

Abstract

In this paper, possibilities of various types of silver amalgam electrodes for determination of micromolar and submicromolar concentrations of various electrochemically reducible biologically active organic compounds are reviewed. Attention is paid to the use of polished and mercury meniscus modified silver solid amalgam electrodes, silver amalgam paste electrodes both with and without pasting liquids, single crystal silver amalgam electrodes, composite silver amalgam electrodes, and porous silver amalgam electrodes. Main focus is on voltammetric application of above mentioned electrodes. However, their application in flowing systems (high performance liquid chromatography and flow injection analysis with electrochemical detection) is briefly discussed as well. The compatibility of various types of silver amalgam electrodes with preliminary separation based on solid phase extraction is demonstrated on determination of nanomolar concentrations of environmentally important compounds in model samples of drinking and river waters.