Application of potentiometric stripping analysis for speciation of copper complexes with a non-adsorbable ligand on a mercury electrode.

Potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA) was used for determination of conditional stability constants (delta') of copper(II) complexes. Glycine was used as a model of a non-adsorbable ligand on the mercury electrode that forms well defined 1:1 and 1:2 copper(II)-glycine complexes, which are labile within the time scale of the analytical technique. The calculations were performed by the DeFord-Hume method, which was applied to the shifts in peak potential (dt/dE vs. E) provoked by the presence of different concentration of the ligand in the metal solution. For comparison purposes, the study was also carried out by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). The results obtained by PSA both at pH 6.0, logbeta'(1) = 5.0 +/- 0.2 and logbeta'(2) = 7.6 + 0.2, and at pH 6.5, logbeta'(1) = 5.7 +/- 0.6 and logbeta'(2) = 8.5 +/- 0.4 (standard deviations are given), were in agreement with those obtained by DPASV and from the literature, which indicates that PSA is suitable for this type of study.