Highly sensitive electrochemical detection of methyl salicylate using electroactive gold nanoparticles

Electrochemical sensing of methyl salicylate, a key plant volatile has been achieved using a gold nanoparticle (AuNP) modified screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE). The electrochemical response of planar gold electrodes, SPCE and AuNP–SPCE in alkaline electrolyte in the presence and absence of methyl salicylate were studied to understand the amperometric response of various electrochemical reactions. The reaction mechanism includes hydrolysis of methyl salicylate and the oxidation of negative species. The electrochemical responses were recorded using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry techniques, where the results showed characteristic signals for methyl salicylate oxidation. Among the examined electrodes, AuNP–SPCE possessed three fold better sensitivity than planar gold and 35 times better sensitivity than SPCE (at 0.5 V). The methyl salicylate sensing by AuNP–SPCE possessed <5% variation coefficient for repeatability, one week of stable performance with no more than 15% activity loss even if used multiple times (n = 8). Even in the presence of high concentration of interfering compounds such as cis-3-hexenol, hexyl acetate and cis-hexenyl acetate, AuNP–SPCE retained >95% of its methyl salicylate response. The electroanalytical results of soybean extract showed that AuNP–SPCE can be employed for the determination of methyl salicylate in real samples.