Potentiometric Determination of Menadione (Vitamin K₃)

Abstract.

 The construction and electrochemical response characteristics of poly(vinyl) chloride matrix membrane sensors for menadione (vitamin K₃) are described. Membranes incorporating the ion association complexes of menadione anion with bathophenanthroline nickel(II) and iron(II) as electroactive materials show linear response for menadione over the range 10⁻¹–10⁻⁵ M with anionic slopes of 58.2–51.4 mV per concentration decade. Both sensors exhibit fast response time (20–30 s), low detection limit (2 × 10⁻⁵ M), good stability (4–6 weeks) and selectivity coefficient (10⁻¹–10⁻³). Direct potentiometric determination of menadione under static and hydrodynamic mode of operations shows average accuracies of 98.8 and 98.5% with relative standard deviations of 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively. Application of the method for the determination of menadione in human plasma gives favourable results compared with those obtained by the standard spectrophotometric method.