Effect of in situ complexation of some ions with variable valencies, like Co(II), Ni(II), Mn(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II) on the the electrooxidation of Vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid) was studied by cyclic voltammetry using carbon paste electrodes modified with p-tert-butylcalix [4]arene and p-tert-butylcalix [6]arene in perchloric acid, acetic acid and ammonium acetate media. Pb(II) was found to bind strongly with p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene in acetate medium, resulting in its being retained at the electrode surface and catalyzing the oxidation of ascorbic acid. The overpotential was reduced by about 200 mV with an increase in the peak currents. Linearity was observed over the range of 0.07 -400 ppm with a detection limit of 30 ppb by differential pulse voltammetry. Interferences of some common substances like sugars and amino acids were studied and the modified electrode was used for the determination of vitamin C in commercial samples.Keywords: Carbon paste electrode, Calixarene, Ascorbic acid, Voltammetry Vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid), a water-soluble vitamin that is widely required for metabolism and consumed on a large scale is electroactive and has been studied extensively [1 -4]. Several chemically modified electrodes (CMEs) have been fabricated, and ascorbic acid has been used as a model compound to study the effect of modification, which in-turn have led to a number of electrochemical sensors. CMEs based on enzymes [5 -7], polymerization [8 -13], dyes [14 -17], self assembled monolayers [18 -21], redox [22 -23] and macrocyclic complexes of transition metal ions are reported.Most of the macrocyclic complexes used as modifiers are phthalocyanines [24 -26], porphyrins [28 -29] or cyclam type of molecules [21,30,31]. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no report on the utility of calixarenemetal ion complexes in electrocatalysis, though they have been used in a number of ion selective electrodes (ISEs) [32 -35] and CMEs [36 -40]. Therefore, we considered it interesting to study if the calixarene complexes exhibit similar electrocatalytic activity as the other macrocyclic compounds mentioned above. The calixarenes chosen were, p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene and p-tert-butylcalix[6]arene for their cavity radii are closer to the ionic radii of the commonly used transition metal ions which exhibit multiple valencies, viz. Co(II), Ni(II), Mn(II), Cu(II). Pb(II) was also included in our study as it is known to form stronger complexes [32,36] with calixarenes than the above mentioned ions, and in fact were found to be the only complexes which exhibited electrocatalytic behavior.A reaction at an electrode is said to be electrocatalytic if the oxidation/reduction potential is decreased considerably and if there is a simultaneous increase in peak currents. The oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA) was studied in 0.01 M perchloric acid (pH 2.0), 0.04 M acetic acid (pH 3) and ammonium acetate media (pH 5.1) containing Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Mn(II) and Pb(II) ions using plain carbon paste electrodes (PCPEs) and modified...