Sistema de análise em fluxo empregando geração eletroquímica de reagente e detecção biamperométrica para a determinação de sulfito

Abstract

Sulfites are considered food additives that after chemical reaction releasing sulfur dioxide (SO2), sulfite ion (SO32-), or bisulfite ion (HSO3-). These additives act as antioxidants in food, in the control of bacterial growth and enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning reactions during processing and storage. Although widely used in the food industry, the use of sulfite as a preservative causes some problems, reducing the nutritional quality of foods processed and in some cases are caused adverse effects to human health. In this work it is proposed to determine sulfite in samples of processed juices and wines through an analytical flow system with biamperometric detection. The system was built employing a peristaltic pump, proportional injector, a Gas Diffusion Cell (GDC) and Reagent Generation Cell (RGC) and polyethylene tubes with an internal diameter of 0.8 mm for making the analytical path. The RGC was coupled to a potentiostat for applying current to the electrochemical generation of triiodide ions. For detection it was used a biamperometric detector, adapted to a coulometer for applying the constant potential. For the data acquisition and processing was performed using a software developed in Lab View® language. The analysis method was based on a redox reaction between the I3- ions SO32- and providing a decrease of the generated current by the pair and this decrease in the signal is proportional to the concentration of SO32- ions. After the system optimization, the proposed procedure was operated with KI concentrations of 0.25 mol L-1, HCl 1.0 mol L-1, Na2SO4 and 0.1 mol L-1, with 0.25 mA current applied in RGC and the length of the sampling loop was of 20 cm. In the proposed procedure, a linear response was obtained between 1 and 12 mg L-1 of sulfite E = - (0,2371 ± 0,0028) C + (6,7097 ± 0,0182), R = -0,9997), LD = 0,26 mg L-1 and LQ = 0,86 mg L-1, relative standard deviation less than 2% (n = 10), with sampling frequency of 40 h−1. Potential interfering studies demonstrated the selectivity of the proposed method. Addition and recovery tests with samples of juices and wines were performed to give results of recovery between 91.63 and 110.34%, demonstrating the possibility of operation of the proposed procedure in real samples.