Abstract

The present study addresses the electrochemical behavior and the analytical applications of six 2-nitrophenylbenzimidazole derivatives with activity against Trypanosoma cruzi. When studied in a wide range of pH, by differential pulse polarography, tast polarography and cyclic voltammetry, these compounds exhibited two irreversible cathodic responses. With analytical purposes, the differential pulse polarography mode was selected, which exhibited adequate analytical parameters of repeatability, reproducibility and selectivity. The percentage of recovery was in all cases over 99%, and the detection and quantitation limits were at the level of 1 × 10-7 mol L-1 and 1 × 10-6 mol L-1, respectively. In addition, the differential pulse polarography method was successfully applied to study the hydrolytic degradation kinetic of one of the tested compounds. Activation energy, kinetic rate constants at different temperatures and half-life values of such application are reported. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.