Jun Chang

A new chromatography-based method for analyzing a traditional Chinese medicine and its metabolites.

Phenols are frequently present in water because of their widespread use in commercial products and because they are by-products of processes in petrochemical, pulp and paper, plastic, and glue manufacturing industries (1,2). The concentration of phenolic compounds in the waste discharges can be as high as 20 mg/L (2); however, phenol-containing pesticides and wood preservatives may cause significant health hazards even at mg/L levels (1). Consequently, it is important to monitor phenols and substituted phenols in environmental and biological samples. Liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection is one of the widely used methods due to its high selectivity and sensitivity for phenolic compounds. However, glassy carbon working electrodes, used in the electrochemical detection of phenols, often require polishing (3). This time-consuming and often poorly reproducible polishing can be avoided with disposable carbon electrodes, which offer comparable or better analytical performance (4).