The suitability of ultrasound-assisted anodic stripping voltammetry (sono-ASV) for the detection of total copper content in beer using both mercury thin film and glassy carbon electrodes has been investigated. An immersion horn probe is introduced into a small thermostatted conventional three electrode cell (20 cm 3 ) opposite the working electrode: an ex situ mercury plated Nafion ® -coated mercury film electrode or a bare glassy carbon electrode. Minimal sample pre-treatment is required which consists of acidification of the beer with dilute nitric acid and out-gassing with argon. After the deposition of copper (as the metal or its amalgam) on the electrode in the presence of ultrasound, a square wave scan is employed to get the analytical signal. In the absence of ultrasound, electrode passivation by organic species and lower rates of mass transport prevent the observation of any measurable signals. In situ cavitational cleaning of the electrode by insonation maintains the electrode activity. Total copper content levels in the range of 100 to 300 mg Cu L 21 were determined by sono-ASV using both electrode substrates and showed excellent agreement with values provided by an independent method. This highlights the validity of the sono-ASV method as a useful electroanalytical technique in hostile media.

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N-benzoyl-N-phenyl-hydroxylamine dissolved in ethyl acetate was employed as a ligand for the solvent extraction of copper. Ultrasonic emulsification was shown to be effective both in the extraction of copper from an aqueous phase into ethyl acetate and its recovery or "back extraction" into a fresh clean aqueous solution. Experimental determination of thermodynamic parameters governing the extraction process via UV/visible spectroscopy is reported. This permitted theoretical predictions for the amount of copper transferred into the final aqueous solution to be fitted to experimental data. Quantitative analysis of copper removed via double sono-extraction from an aqueous medium hostile to voltammetric analysis proceeded via sono-square wave anodic stripping voltammetry analysis (sono-SWASV). This resulted in very high sensitivity in the relatively clean medium. The technique was then applied to the analysis of copper in the soft drink 'Ribena Light'. In the absence of sample preparation by solvent extraction sono-SWASV yields a measurable peak current for copper. However it is irreproducible and erratic due to passivating effects, possibly attributed to the sugars, natural flavourings and colourings present. Following sono-solvent extraction, the overall copper concentration could be obtained with a detection limit of 2 microg L(-1). Biphasic sono-extraction synergistically coupled with the recognized technique sono-SWASV presents an attractive technique for copper analysis in electrode passivating media. The technique necessarily removes contaminants present in the test solution since these will prefer to remain in the initial aqueous phase, or will transfer to the organic phase but are unlikely to be doubly transferred into the 'clean' final aqueous phase.

Sonoelectrochemical measurements at macro-electrodes under extreme conditions with a very short distance between ultrasonic horn tip and electrode and different ultrasound intensity levels are shown to result in violent cavitation detected in form of current peaks superimposed on the average limiting current. Analysis of the current data obtained for the oxidation of ferrocene in dimethylformamide (0.1 M NBu4PF6) at a 4 mm diameter Pt disc electrode and for the reduction of Ru(NH3)6(3+) in aqueous 0.1 M KCl at a 6 mm diameter Pt disc electrode consistently indicate a change of the physicochemical nature of sonoelectrochemical processes under extreme conditions. The sonoelectrochemical measurement of the rate constant for the carbon bromide bond cleavage of a 3-bromobenzophenone radical anion electrogenerated at a glassy carbon electrode in dimethylformamide solution in the presence of power ultrasound is shown to yield evidence for a breakdown of the conventional mass transport model of a planar diffusion layer under extreme conditions. The change can be correlated to the number of current data points deviating more than 10% from the mean of the current due to violent cavitation processes superimposed onto the average limiting current. Further, a study of the sonochemical destruction of aqueous dilute cyanide solution (in 0.1 M NaOH) demonstrates a correlation between the electrochemically detected cavitation violence and the sonochemical activity. Factors that govern the violence of interfacial cavitation appear to be directly proportional to the factors that make cavitation in the bulk solution chemically efficient.

Sonoelectroanalysis is applied to the detection of copper bound within human blood protein and whole blood. A solid glassy carbon electrode in a face on horn-to-electrode arrangement was ®rst used to obtain silent and insonated square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) of a 10 % solution of whole blood in 0.1 M HNO 3 electrolyte and the detection of copper in whole blood was shown to be possible. Analogous results were seen using a solution (3.3 mg dL À1 ) of ceruloplasmin in 0.1 M HNO 3; ; in blood over 90 % of the copper is bound to this protein. It was shown that the enhancement of stripping peaks observed in ceruloplasmin and whole blood is not simply due to mass transport enhancement and cavitational cleaning effects alone but also the liberation of copper from the sites in which it is bound prior to preconcentration. The determination of copper status using whole blood was veri®ed by using the microaddition technique to determine the copper content of two sample of laked horse blood. The results were within one standard deviation of an independent blind analysis and it can be concluded that sono-SWASV presents an accurate and desirable alternative to conventional techniques due to its rapidity, lack of complex pretreatment and use of mercury free electrodes.