Highly sensitive and selective determination of malathion in vegetable extracts by an electrochemical sensor based on Cu-metal organic framework

Abstract

This article demonstrates the first application of a copper-based porous coordination polymer (BTCA-P-Cu-CP) as a carbon paste electrode (CPE) modifier for the detection of malathion. The electrochemical behavior of BTCA-P-Cu-CP/CPE was explored using cyclic voltammetry (CV) while chrono-amperometry methods were applied for the analytical evaluation of the sensor performance. Under optimized conditions, the developed sensor exhibited high reproducibility, stability, and wide dynamic range (0.6–24 nM) with the limits of detection and sensitivity equal to 0.17 nM and 5.7 µAnMcm⁻¹, respectively, based on inhibition signal measurement. Furthermore, the presence of common coexisting interfering species showed a minor change in signals (<4.4%). The developed sensor has been applied in the determination of malathion in spiked vegetable extracts. It exhibited promising results in term of fast and sensitive determination of malathion in real samples at trace level with recoveries of 91.0 to 104.4%. (RSDs < 5%, n = 3). A comparison of the two studied techniques showed that the HPLC technique is unable to detect malathion when the concentration is lower than 1.8 µM while 0.006 µM is detected with appropriate RSDs 0.2–5.2% (n = 3) by amperometric method. Due to the high sensitivity and selectivity, this new electrochemical sensor will be useful for monitoring trace malathion in real samples.

Keywords:

• Metal organic framework
• carbon paste electrode
• electrochemical sensor
• malathion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge University of Malaya and IPPP grants no. PG292-2016A, RG381-17AFR, and RP020A-16SUS for financial support. They are also thankful to Ms. Fairuz Liyana Mohd Rasdi for her valuable discussion.