Dimethyl Sulfoxide: An Ideal Electrochemical Probe for Hydroxyl Radical Detection

In situ and real-time determination of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) in physiological and pathological processes is a great challenge due to their ultrashort lifetime. Herein, an electrochemical method was developed by using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a trapping probe for rapid determination of •OH in aqueous solution. When DMSO reacted with •OH, an intermediate product methane sulfinic acid (MSIA) was formed, which can be electrochemically oxidized to methanesulfonic acid (MSA) on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE), resulting in a distinct voltammetric signal that is directly proportional to the concentration of •OH. Other commonly encountered reactive oxygen species (ROS), including hypochlorite anions (ClO–), superoxide anions (O2•–), sulfate radicals (SO4•–), and singlet oxygen (1O2), have showed no interference for •OH determination. Thus, an electrochemical method was developed for the determination of •OH, which exhibits a wide linear range (0.4–5120 μM) and a low limit detection of 0.13 μM (S/N = 3) and was successfully applied for the quantification of •OH in aqueous extracts of cigarette tar (ACT). Alternatively, the same reaction mechanism is also applicable for the determination of DMSO, in which a linear range of 40–320 μM and a detection limit 13.3 μM (S/N = 3) was achieved. The method was used for the evaluation of DMSO content in cell cryopreservation medium. This work demonstrated that DMSO can serve as an electrochemical probe and has valuable application potential in radical study, biological research, and environmental monitoring.