Electrochemical Reduction and Differential Pulse Polarographic Determination of Butralin and Isopropalin in Environmental Samples at a Mercury Electrode

Abstract The electrochemical reduction behavior of two dinitroaniline herbicides, Butralin (BN) and Isopropalin (IN), at a mercury electrode is described based on different voltammetric techniques in various buffer solutions at different pH values. The nature of the electrode process has been examined. A reduction mechanism was proposed. Britton–Robinson (BR) buffer of pH 4.0 was found to be best media for the analysis of the compounds. Both standard addition and calibration methods were used for analysis. The detection limits were found to be 6 × 10−8 M (M = mol dm−3) for BN and for 1.5 × 10−8 M for IN. A differential pulse polarographic method was developed for the determination of the herbicides in grains and soils as well as water samples.