Determination of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole by cyclic voltammetry

Abstract

The electrochemical reduction of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which is a chlorinated arene with electron-donating substituents, was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). TCA is a major concern for the winery industry since it is related with cork taint, a wine defect. The results obtained in this work showed that CV could be used to detect and quantify TCA in preparative standard solutions. Linear relationships could be set between the current amplitude and TCA concentration (R > 0.999), being the detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) limits of 0.8 and 2.0 ppm, respectively. Although, these preliminary limits are higher than the human sensory threshold (around 5 ppt in wine), the simplicity and low-cost of the methodology confer this study a possible role in the development of more efficient, less expensive processes for TCA detection in the industry.