A methodology for direct and simultaneous determination
of four
phenolic antioxidantsbutylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated
hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate (PG), and tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ)in biodiesel samples using differential
pulse voltammetry associated with partial least squares (PLS) regression
is presented. Measurements were taken directly in a biodiesel:ethanol
1:1 (v/v) medium using a platinum ultramicroelectrode as the working
electrode. The voltammetric signals of the compounds overlapped significantly,
and to facilitate the simultaneous determination of the analytes,
a PLS chemometric tool was applied and approaches fitting one compound
at a time (PLS-1) and multiple compounds (PLS-2) both allowed the
quantification of the individual concentrations, overcoming the strongly
overlapped voltammograms. Results show that the PLS-2 model provides
more accurate predictions than PLS-1. For the PLS-2 model, root mean
square errors of prediction of 3 × 10, 16, 24, and 3 × 10
mg L–1 have been obtained between nominal and predicted
concentrations for BHA, BHT, PG, and TBHQ, respectively. Recovery
percentages were between 83 and 104%.