Presented Ph.D. Thesis is focused on the development of analytical methods applicable for determination of selected xenobiotic compounds and for monitoring DNA damage they can induce. The main attention has been paid to the development and testing of non-toxic electrode materials for preparation of miniaturized electrochemical devices and novel electrochemical DNA biosensors. 2-Aminofluoren-9-one (2-AFN) was selected as a model environmental pollutant, which belongs to the group of hazardous genotoxic substances. Its carcinogenic and mutagenic effects may represent a risk to living and working environment. 2-AFN has one oxo group, where the cathodic reduction occurs, and one amino group, where the anodic oxidation occurs. The voltammetric behavior of 2-AFN in the negative potential region was investigated at a mercury meniscus modified silver solid amalgam electrode (m-AgSAE) representing a non-toxic and more mechanically robust alternative to mercury electrodes. This working electrode was subsequently used for the development of a newly designed miniaturized electrode system (MES), which has many benefits as the possibility of simple field measurements, easy portability, and the measurement in sample volume 100 µL. Moreover, a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was used for further investigation of...

Presented Ph.D. Thesis is focused on the use of the boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes for voltammetric and amperometric determination of selected nitrophenols: 2-nitrophenol (2NP), 4-nitrophenol (4NP), and 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4DNP). These compounds are listed as "priority pollutants" by United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) due to their negative impact on living organisms and are mainly used in agriculture as plant growth stimulators. BDD electrodes are used for determination of wide range of electrochemically both reducible and oxidisable organic compounds and have become a popular electrode material thanks to its commercial availability and excellent mechanical and electrochemical properties. A differential pulse voltammetric method was developed for the determination of 2NP, 4NP and 2,4DNP at a BDD film electrode using electrochemical reduction and of 4NP and 2,4DNP using electrochemical oxidation. The method was successfully applied for the direct determination of these compounds in drinking and river water in the concentration range from 4×10-7 to 2×10-5 mol.L-1 . To improve the limit of quantification, a preconcentration by solid phase extraction from 100 mL (drinking and river water) and 1000 mL (drinking water) of water samples was used with limit of determination...

Presented dissertation thesis is focused on the development of electrochemical methods for the determination of three important tumour biomarkers, namely homovanillic acid (HVA), vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), and 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA). First part of the study is focused on electrochemical behaviour of these analytes in batch arrangement using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) at screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). It has been proved that presented method is sufficiently sensitive for monitoring above mentioned analytes. Moreover, it can be used for determination of HVA and VMA in mixture. Obtained limits of detection (LODs) were 0.24 µmol·L-1 for HVA, 0.06 µmol·L-1 for VMA, and 0.12 µmol·L-1 for 5-HIAA. The requirements to speed up the analysis and at the same time to reduce its price initialized our study of the determination of tested biomarkers in flow systems. Firstly, flow injection analysis with amperometric detection was investigated for the determination of all three biomarkers at the same SPCE, and then an analogous determination of structural more similar pair, HVA and VMA, was performed at a boron doped diamond electrode (BDDE). Obtained LODs of optimized methods were as follows: at SPCE 0.07 µmol·L-1 for HVA, 0.05 µmol·L-1 for VMA, and 0.03 µmol·L-1 for 5-HIAA,...