Electrochemical behavior of the insecticide pymetrozine at an electrochemically pretreated glassy carbon electrode and its analytical application

A simple and sensitive electrochemical method for the determination of the insecticide pymetrozine was proposed using a simple electrochemically pretreated glassy carbon electrode (EPGCE). Compared with the bare GCE, the electrochemical response signal of pymetrozine at the EPGCE showed a significant increase. The electrochemical behavior of pymetrozine was investigated systematically and some dynamics were investigated in detail for the first time. The results indicate that the reaction of pymetrozine on the EPGCE is a two electron and two proton process, which is controlled by both diffusion and adsorption. Under optimum conditions, a good linear relationship was obtained between peak currents and pymetrozine concentrations in the range of 1 × 10−7 to 5 × 10−6 mol L−1 with a detection limit of 8 × 10−8 mol L−1 (S/N = 3). The proposed method was applied to the determination of pymetrozine in real samples with satisfactory recovery results. Finally, the degradation of pymetrozine was also studied in natural soil.