Simultaneous determination of tert-butylhydroquinone, propyl gallate, and butylated hydroxyanisole by flow-injection analysis with multiple-pulse amperometric detection

We report the first amperometric method for the simultaneous determination of tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ), propyl gallate (PG), and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) using flow injection analysis coupled to multiple-pulse amperometry. A sequence of potential pulses was selected in order to detect tBHQ, PG, and BHA separately in a single injection step at a glassy carbon electrode without the need of a preliminary separation. A mixture of methanol and 0.040 M Britton-Robinson buffer was used both as a carrier solution and for dilution of analyzed solutions before injection. The method is precise (RSD < 5%, It = 10), fast (a frequency of 140 injections h(-1)), provides sufficiently low quantification limits (2.51, 1.45, and 0.85 pmol L-1 for tBHQ, PG, and BHA, respectively) and can be easily applied without high demands on instrumentation. As a practical application, the determination of these antioxidants contained in commercial chewing gum samples was carried out by applying a simple extraction procedure.