Determination of uric acid in synthetic urine by using electrochemical surface oxidation enhanced Raman scattering

Highlights: • EC-SOERS has been used in a complex medium. • Uric acid has been determined in synthetic urine using simple calibration standards. • No baseline correction has been used to quantify uric acid with the evolution of the Raman signal. • Raman spectroelectrochemical trinilinear data facilitate the quantification. -- Abstract: In this work, a new and easy methodology to determine uric acid in relevant samples using Raman spectroelectrochemistry is presented. The spectroelectrochemistry experiment is based on the in-situ formation of a suitable substrate that enables the enhancement of the Raman signal of an analyte during the oxidation stage of a silver electrode. This phenomenon is known as electrochemical surface oxidation enhanced Raman scattering (EC-SOERS) and has proved to be useful in quantitative analysis using disposable screen printed electrodes. The successful combination of EC-SOERS with PARAFAC analysis allows the determination of uric acid in a relevant complex sample avoiding the use of standard addition method and without using a baseline correction, which simplifies the application of such methodology in routine analysis.