Electrochemical behavior of 3,6-dihydroxyphenanthrene on boron-doped diamonds

The electrochemical behaviors of 3,6-dihydroxyphenanthrene in non-aqueous or aqueous solutions were investigated using boron-doped diamond electrodes. 3,6-Dihydroxyphenanthrene exhibited different cyclic voltammetric behaviors in organic and aqueous solutions. Cyclic voltammetry, hydrodynamic voltammetry and flow injection analysis (FIA) with amperometric detection were used to study the oxidation reactions. Experiments were concurrently performed using glassy carbon electrodes as comparison. The detection limit of 5 μM for 3,6-dihydroxyphenanthrene in organic medium was obtained by the use of the FIA technique with the diamond electrode. The peak current at +1.2 V vs. Ag/AgCl due to the oxidation of 3,6-dihydroxyphenanthrene is proportional to its bulk concentration in the range of 10–100 μM with R=0.99. The FIA response was highly reproducible, and the response variation was below 6% from film to film in detectable range.