Voltammetric determination of nitrites in meat products after reaction with ranitidine producing 2-methylfuran cation

A completely new voltammetric method has been developed for the determination of nitrites in meat products. This highly selective electroanalytical method utilizes a specific reaction of nitrites with ranitidine in an acidic environment to form an electroactive NDMA and 2-methylfuran cation with the corresponding side chain in the fifth position. A cathodic reduction at -0.210 V of 2-methyl-2H-furan-3-one at GCE covered with a thin layer of ERGO and adsorbed SDBS surfactant was preferred to anodic oxidation of NDMA at +0.8 V due to the desired selectivity. For evaluation using peak height, two linear ranges from 6.2 to 125 mu mol L-1 and from 150 to 300 mu mol L-1 nitrites characterized by R-2 of 0.9991 and 0.9963 with a detection limit of 1.89 mu mol L-1 nitrites were found, respectively. If the peak-area-based evaluation is preferred, only one linear dependence described by a regression equation A(p)(c) (mu A V) = 0.0079c (mu mol L-1) - 0.0442 with the R-2 of 0.9996 will be obtained. The verification of voltammetric method was carried out using a comparison with a spectrophotometric Griess Reagent Kit (G-7921) in the analysis of the model sample and various meat products.