title: Development of a tubular periodate electrode for flow-injection determination of glycerol.
abstract: Periodate electrodes without inner reference solution based on tetraoctylammonium periodate plus solvent mediator (dibutyl phthalate or 2-nitrophenyl octylether) were constructed. Linear dynamic range, practical detection limit, slope, stability, selectivity coefficients, pH dependence, response time and lifetime were evaluated. A tubular version was further developed and coupled to a flow-injection system for glycerol determination in samples relevant to the industrial production of soaps, detergents and similar. The method involves glycerol oxidation by periodate with potentiometric evaluation of its consumption. The influence of oxidizing agent concentration (10(-5)-10(-2)M NalO(4)), ionic strength (0.0-1.0M Na(2)SO(4)) and mean resident time were investigated and the feasibility of using a single-fine manifold was discussed. The proposed system handles about 40 samples/hr, is very stable and suitable to industrial control. Results within the 1000 and 5000 mg/l range glycerol are precise (r.s.d. <0.005) and in fair agreement with conventional procedures. Baseline drift or noise is not observed and a thermostat water bath is not required. A noteworthy feature is the almost linear relationship between glycerol concentration and recorded peak height which is a consequence of combined effects of reaction kinetics and electrode Nernstian response.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química-Física, Faculdade de Farmácía, Universidade do Porto, 4000 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conceiçäo
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Montenegro
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Costa Lima
authors.forename: I L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Mattos
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gomes Neto
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Zagatto