Application of N-PLS calibration to the simultaneous determination of Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ using peptide modified electrochemical sensors

The simultaneous determination of Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ is demonstrated at four modified gold electrodes using N-PLS calibration. Three of the electrodes were modified with the peptides Gly-Gly-His, γ-Glu-Cys Gly and human angiotensin I which were covalently attached to thioctic acid self-assembled monolayers and the fourth electrode was modified with thioctic acid only. Voltammetry at the modified electrodes in the presence of the three metal ions revealed one peak due to the reduction of copper and another due to the overlapping peaks of cadmium and lead which made quantification using conventional methods difficult. N-PLS was used to calibrate and predict trace concentrations (100 nM to 10 μM) of mixtures of Cu ²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺.