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ABSTRACT
The detection of organophosphate compounds was demonstrated using sol–gel materials made of zirconia composite films. The detection was performed via inclusion complexes of the organophosphates of paraoxon-ethyl and parathion-ethyl with the zirconium dioxide-β-cyclodextrin composite film. The formation of sol–gel thin film process was investigated and optimized. The morphology of zirconium dioxide with β-cyclodextrin gel was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used for the characterization of the inclusion complexes of paraoxon-ethyl and parathion-ethyl on zirconium dioxide with β-cyclodextrin film. The hydrolysis of paraoxon-ethyl by zirconium dioxide with the β-cyclodextrin gel thin film caused peak shifts in the attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra. The increase in absorption intensity correlated with increasing paraoxon-ethyl concentration, but this trend was not observed for parathion-ethyl. The hydroxyl vibration band of the intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds was observed to decline with increasing paraoxon-ethyl concentration. Quantitative analysis of paraoxon-ethyl using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra provided a linear calibration relationship from 1 to 7 µM with a limit of detection as low as 30 nM.