Determination of Ultra Trace Levels of Copper in Whole Blood by Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetry

A selective and sensitive method for simultaneous determination of copper in blood by adsorptive differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry is presented. The procedure involves an adsorptive accumulation of Cu(II)-ETSC (4-ethyl-3-thiosemicarbazide) on a hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by a stripping voltammetry measurement of reduction current of adsorbed complex at about -715 mV. The optimum conditions for the analysis of copper (II) ion are : pH 10.3, concentration of 4-ethyl-3-thiosemicarbazide 3.25x10(-6) M and an accumulation potential of -100 mV. The peak current is proportional to the concentration of copper over the range 0.003-125 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.001 ng/mL and an accumulation time of 60 s. Moreover, with the use of the proposed method, there is a considerable improvement in the detection limit, the linear dynamic range and the deposition time, compared with the methods of adsorptive stripping voltammetry for the determination of copper. The developed method was validated by analysis of whole blood certified reference materials.