Ultra Sensitive Quantification of Thiourea at Nanomolar Level by Catalytic-Kinetic Differential Pulse Voltammetry

A new simple and highly selective and sensitive catalytic differential pulse voltammetry procedure for the determination of thiourea at nanomolar level is reported. Thiourea has a catalytic effect on the oxidation of Janus green by iodate in the hydrochloric acid medium. The potential was scanned in the negative direction and the differential pulse voltammograms were recorded. The variations of the peak current with hydrochloric acid concentration, oxidant, Janus green, pulse amplitude, pulse time and scan rate were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the relationship between the peak current and concentration of thiourea was obtained. It is shown that the calibration curve is linear in the range of 0.0-1-6.00 mu g/mL. The detection limit of the method was 0.005 mu g/mL. The relative standard deviation for 6 replicate determinations of 0.01, 0.50 and 2.00 mu g/mL is equal to 2.25%, 1.52% and 1.03%, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of thiourea in fruit juices with satisfactory results.