First application of carbon-based screen-printed electrodes for the voltammetric determination of the organic UV filters oxybenzone and octocrylene.

A new voltammetric methodology is proposed for the simultaneous determination of the organic UV filters oxybenzone (benzophenone 3, BP3) and octocrylene (OC) in personal care products and in wastewater extracts. It is based on previous adsorptive stripping voltammetric (AdSV) methods developed for hanging mercury drop electrodes, adapted to the special characteristics of carbon-based screen-printed electrodes. Among the carbon substrates tested, regular carbon screen-printed devices exhibited the best performance, with detection limits of 4.8 and 6.6 μmol L and linearity ranges of 16-400 and 22-400 μmol L for BP3 and OC, respectively, and, as compared to mercury electrodes, with the advantages of environmental safety, easy of use, low cost and compatibility with automation and flow measurements. The methodology has been successfully tested in real samples and compared to the standard methodology by liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).