Electrochemical study of antioxidants at a polypyrrole electrode modified by a nickel phthalocyanine complex. Application to their HPLC separation and to their FIA system detections.

A polypyrrole electrode modified with a tetrasulfonated nickel(II) phthalocyanine complex (GCE/PPy/NiPcTs) was used as amperometric electrochemical detector in a flow injection system, in order to determine some antioxidants in foods. The lather were separated by HPLC and detected at the modified electrode. Previous investigations carried out in our laboratory employed this electrode and cyclic voltammetry (CV), obtaining excellent results, due to an electrocatalytic effect on the oxidation of certain alimentary antioxidants, such tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA) and propylgallate (PG). In order to obtain good separation, the chromatographic conditions were optimised. The geometry of the flow injection analysis (FIA) circuit and the reproducibility of the results were also optimised and, finally, the linear relationship between the signal and the concentration was verified. The proposed procedure is more precise and accurate than the conventional voltammetry methods. These results offer new analytical possibilities to this type of modified electrodes. The developed methods were applied to the determination of these antioxidants in commercial food.