A label-free electrochemical system for comprehensive monitoring of o-chlorophenol.

o-Chlorophenol (OCP) is a priority pollutant that poses serious health threats to the public. The following study designs a simple electrochemical system to monitor the concentration and toxicity of OCP. This system was primarily characterized by the integration of both physicochemical and biological monitoring procedures that had a synergistic effect between the functionalized carbon nanotubes and rhodamine B. This resulted in excellent electrocatalytic activities toward OCP and cellular purine bases. The peak current of OCP was linear with concentrations ranging from 0.05-125.0 μM and the detection limit was 0.028 μM under optimal testing conditions. There was an enhanced voltammetric signal detected that was caused by the guanine/xanthine of human hepatoma (HepG2) cells. The cytotoxicity of OCP to HepG2 cells was assessed using the proposed system. The obtained IC50 value was 512.86 μM. This study provided a fast, label-free, and low-cost platform for the comprehensive assessment of OCP. This is highly beneficial for simplifying the environmental monitoring process.