An Electrochemical Approach for the Cucurbit[7]uril/Carbendazim Supramolecular Inclusion Complex. Application to Carbendazim Determination in Apples

This work presents the electrochemical behaviour of the supramolecular complex formed between the macrocyclic receptor cucurbit[7]uril and the fungicide carbendazim. Moreover, this host molecule is used to develop a selective and sensitive differential pulse voltammetric method for the determination of carbendazim through its cucurbit[7]uril inclusion complex, allowing the detection of the analyte at 4.25 x 10(-9) M. The method was applied to the determination of the fungicide in untreated apple peel samples after a matrix solid-phase dispersion sample preparation procedure. The detection limit calculated for this real sample was 0.17 mg kg(-1), which is below the legally allowed limit of 0.20 mg kg(-1).