A Novel Iron(III) Selective Membrane Electrode Containing a Tripodal Polycatacholamine as Sensor

A novel poly(vinylchloride)-based membrane sensor using $N^1$,$N^3$,$N^5$-tris(2-(2,3-dihydroxybenzylamino)-ethyl)cyclohexane-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (CYCOENCAT, L) as ionophore has been prepared and explored as $Fe^{3+}$ selective electrode. The membrane electrode composed of ionophore, poly(vinylchloride) and o-nitropheyloctyl ether in the optimum ratio 4:33:63 gave excellent potentiometric response characteristics, and displayed a linear log[$Fe^{3+}$] versus EMF response over a wide concentration range of $1.0{\times}10^{-5}-1.0{\times}10^{-1}$ M with super nernstian slope of 28.0 mV/decade and the detection limit of $8.0{\times}10^{-6}$ M. The proposed ion selective electrode showed fast response time (< 15 s), wide pH range (3.0-7.0), high non-aqueous tolerance (up to 20%) and adequate long life time (120 days). It also exhibited very good selectivity for $Fe^{3+}$ relative to a wide variety of alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. Further, the analytical applicability of the sensor was tested as an indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration of $Fe^{3+}$ with EDTA.