Nitrite electrodes

Until recently, nitrite could be assayed indirectly with ammonia gas or nitrate electrodes, respectively, following reduction to ammonium ion with nitrite reductase or oxidation to nitrate. A new PVC nitrite ISE, based on a lipophilic vitamin B12 derivative and bis(l-butylpentyl) adipate, permits nitrite assay in unmodified solutions of extracts from dried meat (69). The anion selectivity deviated from the classical selectivity sequence for anion exchangers, CIO4 SCN N03 N02 C1 x 10 and = 

58 X 10 . Nernstian behaviour was only achieved for sensor levels of 3 mass %, while lifetimes were reported to be at least 6 months (69). 

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Subsequent elegant work by Lambert and coworkers61 has shown that, while under UHV conditions the electropumped Na is indistinguishable from Na adsorbed by vacuum deposition, under electrochemical reaction conditions the electrochemically supplied Na can form surface compounds (e.g. Na nitrite/nitrate during NO reduction by CO, carbonate during NO reduction by C2FI4). These compounds (nitrates, carbonates) can be effectively decomposed via positive potential application. Furthermore the large dipole moment of Na ( 5D) dominates the UWr and O behaviour of the catalyst-electrode even when such surface compounds are formed. 

Zhan [61] reported the use of an oscillopolarographic method for the determination of primaquine phosphate and other drugs in pure form and in pharmaceutical preparations. The sample solution was mixed with potassium bromide and 6 M hydrochloric acid and the mixture was titrated with 0.1 M sodium nitrite. A micro platinum electrode and a platinum electrode were used as indicators and reference electrodes, respectively. The mean recoveries were 96.88-99.88%. Results agreed well with those obtained by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia method. 

Coin-cyclam322-324 and Nin-cyclam322 catalyze the electroreduction of nitrate in aqueous electrolytes with good current efficiencies and turnover numbers, giving mixtures of ammonia, nitrite, and hydroxylamine at a variety of electrode materials. Mechanistic investigations suggested the adsorption of electroreduced Co1- and Ni1 cyclam onto the electrode surface,322 and the formation of an oxo-metal bond via reduction of coordinated nitrate.323... 

The iron complex (23) adsorbed on graphite electrode surfaces is an active catalyst for the electroreduction of both nitrite and nitric oxide to yield NH2OH and NH3, as demonstrated by rotating ring-disk electrode voltammetry experiments.341... 

To date, electrochemical (amperometric) detection of NO is the only available technique sensitive enough to detect relevant concentrations of NO in real time and in vivo and suffers minimally from potential interfering species such as nitrite, nitrate, dopamine, ascorbate, and L-arginine. Also, because electrodes can be made on the micro- and nano-scale these techniques also have the benefit of being able to measure NO concentrations in living systems without any significant effects from electrode insertion. 

Nitrite can then be further oxidized into nitrate. The amount of NO oxidized is thus proportional to the current flow between the working and reference electrodes, which is measured by an NO meter. 

P. Schulthess, D. Ammann, B. Krautler, C. Caderas, R. Stepanek, and W. Simon, Nitrite-selective liquid membrane-electrode. Anal. Chem. 57, 1397-1401 (1985). 

Nitric oxide (NO) and nitrite were found to be oxidized by Prussian blue and indium hexacyanoferrate-modified electrodes [75-77], For pharmaceutical application oxidation of isoprenaline [78] and vitamin B-6 [79] at cupric hexacyanoferrate-modified electrodes was shown. 

Biocompatible nanosized polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer films provided a suitable microenvironment for heme proteins to transfer electron directly with underlying pyrolytic graphite electrodes. The Mb-PAMAM film can catalytically reduced oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, and nitrite, indicating that the potential applicability of the film can be used to fabricate a new type of biosensor or bioreactor based on the direct electron transfer of Mb [234],... 

Nitrite can also be catalytically reduced by the Mb-CMC film electrode. When an Mb-CMC film electrode was placed in a pH 5.5 buffer containing N02, a new reduction peak appeared at about -0.8 V while the original Mb Fem/Fen peak pair at about -0.25 V was intact. This new peak increased with the concentration of N02 and the catalytic reduction peak of nitrite increased linearly with nitrite concentration in the range of 0.6-8mM with a detection limit of 0.32mM. Oxygen and hydrogen peroxide are also often detected by biosensors based on the direct electrochemistry of Mb in the Mb-CMC film electrode. 

Fogg et al. [ 149] used flow injection voltammetry to reduce nitrite at a glassy carbon electrode in acidic bromide or chloride medium and applied the method to seawater. 

Absorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry has been used [151,152] to determine nanomolar levels of nitrite in seawater. The nitrite is derivatised by diazotisation with sulfanilamide and coupled with 1-naphthylamine to form an azo dye. The dye adsorbs onto a mercury drop electrode and its reduction is fully reversible. The concentration of dye is linearly related to concentration of nitrite in the range 0.3-200 nM. Down to 0.3 nM nitrite can be determined in seawater for an adsorption time of 60 seconds. 

The Department of the Environment UK [155] has described a number of alternative methods for the determination of total oxidised nitrogen (nitrate and nitrite) in aqueous solution, while specific methods for nitrate and nitrite are also included. Among the methods for total oxidised nitrogen, one is based on the use of Devarda s alloy for reduction of nitrate to ammonia, and another uses copperised cadmium wire for reducing nitrate to nitrite, which is determined spectrophotometrically. Nitrate may also be determined spectrophotometrically after complex formation with sulfosalicylic acid or following reduction to ammonia, the ammonia is eliminated by distillation and determined titrimetrically. Other methods include direct nitrate determination by ultraviolet spectrophotometry, measurements being made at 210 nm, and the use of a nitrate-selective electrode. Details of the scope, limits of detection, and preferred applications of the methods are given in each case. 

Nitric oxide and nitrite react with other peroxidase enzymes such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP) (138a,139), lactoperoxidase (138a) and eosinophil peroxidase (140) similarly. The rate constants for reaction of NO with compounds I and II in HRP were found to be 7.0 x 105M 1s 1 and 1.3 x 106M 1s 1, respectively (139). Catalytic consumption of NO as measured by an NO sensitive electrode in the presence of HRP compounds I and II is shown in Fig. 5 where accelerated consumption of NO is achieved even in deoxygenated solutions (140). 

The reaction in water at pH 7.4 has been much studied since the discovery of the importance of nitric oxide. The products are as for the thermal and photochemical reactions, except that the final product is nitrite ion. This is to be expected since nitric oxide in aerated water at pH 7.4 also yields quantitatively nitrite ion25, by it is believed the series of equations 7-9, which involves oxidation to nitrogen dioxide, further reaction to give dinitrogen trioxide which, in mildly alkaline solution, is hydrolysed to nitrite ion. Under anaerobic conditions it is possible to detect nitric oxide directly from the decomposition of nitrosothiols using a NO-probe electrode system26. Solutions of nitrosothiols both in... 

Nafion and PDDA [58]. Thermal treatment of the resulting films gave a mesoporous Ti02 matrix with Au NPs embedded within and dispersed on top of the Ti02 matrix. Only about 10% of the Au surface area was electrochemically active, suggesting that a large fraction of the Au NPs was not well coimected to the underlying electrode surface. These mesoporous deposits were shown to be effective electrocatalysts for NO and nitrite oxidation. 

As a rather strongly hydrophilic anion, nitrate requires an ISE membrane containing a strongly hydrophobic cation, as described on p. 169. This function was fulfilled in the first nitrate electrode from Orion Research by cation V [180] in nitro-p-cymene 5. The electrode can be used in the pH range 4-7. In other commercial electrodes, the ion-exchanger ion is a tetra-alkylammonium salt, for example in the electrode from Coming Co., substance XIII in solvent 6 [27]. An ISE with a renewable membrane surface was found to be very useful (see section 4.1 and fig. 4.4), in which the ion-exchanger solution contains the nitrate of crystal violet VII dissolved in nitrobenzene [191]. The NOj ISE also responds to nitrites that can be removed by addition of aminosulphonic acid. 

An attempt to combine electrochemical and micellar-catalytic methods is interesting from the point of view of the mechanism of anode nitration of 1,4-dimethoxybenzene with sodinm nitrite (Laurent et al. 1984). The reaction was performed in a mixture of water in the presence of 2% surface-active compounds of cationic, anionic, or neutral nature. It was established that 1,4-dimethoxy-2-nitrobenzene (the product) was formed only in the region of potentials corresponding to simultaneous electrooxidation of the substrate to the cation-radical and the nitrite ion to the nitrogen dioxide radical (1.5 V versus saturated calomel electrode). At potentials of oxidation of the sole nitrite ion (0.8 V), no nitration was observed. Consequently, radical substitution in the neutral substrate does not take place. Two feasible mechanisms remain for addition to the cation-radical form, as follows ... 

The electroreduction of some typically inorganic compoimds such as nitrogen oxides is catalysed by the presence of polymeric osmium complexes such as [Os(bipy)2(PVP)2oCl]Cl, where bipy denotes 2,2 -bipyridyl and PVP poly(4-vinylpyridine). This polymer modifies the reduction kinetics of nitrite relative to the reaction at a bare carbon electrode, and provides calibration graphs of slope 0.197 nA with detection limits of 0.1 pg/mL and excellent short-term reproducibility (RSD = 2.15% for n = 20). The sensor performance was found to scarcely change after 3 weeks of use in a flow system into which 240 standards and 30 meat extracts were injected [195]. 

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