Carbon-Nanotube-Based Sensor for the Determination of Butylated Hydroxyanisole in Food Samples

The electrochemical oxidation of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), a synthetic phenolic antioxidant, has been studied by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) at multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-modified platinum sensor in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 4) as supporting electrolyte. The developed sensor showed catalytic activity and stability for BHA oxidation. Linear calibration graph was obtained in the concentration range of 1 × 10⁻⁶–1 × 10⁻⁷ M, and the detection limit was 9.49 × 10⁻⁸ M. Effect of common interfering ions have been investigated in simulated mixtures containing high levels of interfering ions, and the sensor was found to be tolerant against these ions. This method has been proved to be effective and successfully applied for the determination of BHA in commercially available vegetable oil and mayonnaise samples, providing a promising and convenient method to monitor the superscale use of phenolic antioxidant.