• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.59-62
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• 2004

The ammonium ion-selective electrodes ($NH^+_4$-ISEs) based on the tetrahydrofuran(THF)-containing-16-crown-4 derivatives,1,4,6,9,11,14,16,19-tetraoxocycloeicosane ($L^1$) and 5,10,15,20,-tetramethyl-1,4,6,9,11,14,16,19-tetraoxocycloeicosane ($L^2$), were prepared and the electrode characteristics were tested. The conditioned $NH_4^+$-ISEs (E1) based on $L^1$ with TEHP as a plasticising solvent mediator gave best results with near-Nernstian slope of 53.9 mV/decade of activity, detection limit of $10^{-4.9}$ M, and enhanced selectivity coefficients for the $NH^+_4$ ion with respect to an interfering $K^+$ ion (log $K^{pot}_{NH_4^+,K^+}$ = -1.84). This result was compared to other ammonium ionophores reported previously, for example, that of nonactin (log $K^{pot}_{NH_4^+,K^+}$ = -0.92). The proposed electrode showed no significant potential changes in the range of 3.0 < pH < 9.0.