title: Fast wave forms for pulsed electrochemical detection of glucose by incorporation of reductive desorption of oxidation products.
abstract: The electrochemical activity of Au electrodes held at constant potential for anodic detection of carbohydrates in alkaline media eventually decays to zero. This loss of response is a consequence of the accumulation of adsorbed oxidation products on the electrode surface. Although it is well-known that these "poisons" can be removed by oxidative desorption simultaneously with formation of surface oxide, we have discovered that electrodes fouled during the detection of glucose yield a cathodic peak at -0.77 V vs SCE resulting from reductive desorption of these species. Incorporation of the reductive desorption process into wave forms for pulsed electrochemical detection (PED) permits a significant decrease in the time periods traditionally allowed for the oxidative and reductive reactivation of the electrode with a resulting increase in wave form frequency. A 6.7-Hz wave form using E(red) = -1.00 V (t(red) = 10 ms), E(oxd) = +0.60 V (t(oxd) = 10 ms), and E(det) = +0.10 V (t(del) = 50 ms, t(int) = 50 ms) is applied for detection of glucose in a LC-PED system and is demonstrated to yield a sub-picomole detection limit with a linear dynamic range extending over three decades.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Johnson