Polarographic Catalytic Hydrogen Wave Technique for the Determination of Copper(II) in Leafy Vegetables and Biological Samples

An economical, novel, eco-friendly and robust method for the quantification of copper(II) in various leafy vegetables, milk and blood samples has been developed using direct current catalytic hydrogen wave (DC-CHW) technique involving the formation of ammonium salts of piperidine/ morpholine dithiocarbamates metal complex. Ammonium piperidine/ morpholine dithiocarbamates complexed with copper(II) in the presence of NH4Cl-NH4OH medium at pH 6.5 +/- 1 produces CHW's at -0.35 +/- 1 V vs SCE. Consequently, various optimal parameters such as preparation medium, effect of pH, ligand concentration, metal ion concentration and indifferent ions effect on peak height were optimized to enhance the sensitivity and selectivity. The novel aspect in the work address the interaction of ammonium piperidine/ morpholine dithiocarbamates with copper(II) were confirmed with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and supported by computational calculations using Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. Furthermore, the student " t"-test and variance ratio " f"-tests indicated no significant difference between the present method and the differential pulse polarographic (DPP) method.