Theoretical and cyclic voltammetric studies on electrocatalysis of benzethonium chloride at carbon paste electrode for detection of dopamine in presence of ascorbic acid

In the past decade, many surfactants have been used to modify carbon electrode to sense dopamine (DA). Even though plenty of works are already available on this strategy, still analyzing DA and ascorbic acid (AA) by surfactant modification is exciting and unfortunately, molecular level understanding of these types of electrode is still missing. Here, we have used benzethonium chloride modified carbon paste electrode (BzTCMCPE) to sense DA and AA at physiological conditions (pH7.4) and BzTCMCPE showed high electrocatalytic activity towards the redox activity of DA and AA (BzTCMCPE successfully resolved the anodic peaks of DA and AA). Quantum chemical modeling is helpful to know about the arrangement (adsorption) of benzethonium chloride on the electrode surface. The electrochemical behavior of the BzTCMCPE was explained using frontier molecular orbitals (FMO) and analytical Fukui functions. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.