Electroanalytical Chemistry Research Developments

Book excerpt: Electroanalytical chemistry, as the name implies, involves the analysis of chemical species through the use of electrochemical methods. Generally, alterations are measured in the concentration of a chemical species by measuring changes in current in response to an applied voltage with respect to time. According to Faraday's law, the charge is directly proportional to the amount of species undergoing a loss (oxidation) or gain (reduction) of electrons. Constant potential amperometry, high-speed chronoamperometry, fast cyclic voltammetry (FCV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) are the most common voltammetric techniques used to detect monoamine neurotransmitters (ie, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine). Each method has its pros and cons. In constant potential amperometry, a uniform potential is applied and the change in current is monitored as a function of time. The advantage of this technique is that the time resolution is limited only by the data collection frequency of the instrument.