**1. Introduction**

124 Recent Advances in Plasticizers

Bedlechowicz I., Maj-Żurawska M., Sokalski T., Hulanicki A., *Journal of Electroanal. Chem.* 

2002, 537, 111-118.

Gupta K.C, Jeanne D'Arc M., *Talanta,*2000, 52, 1087-1103

Gibbons W., Patel H., Kusy R., *Polymer*, 1997, 38, 2633-2642

Kumar M., Sekhon S.S. *European Polymer Journal*, 2002,38, 1297-130*.*  William S., Gibbons, and Robert P. Kusy *1998*, *Polymer*, *39, 3167-3178*

> Plasticizers represent a category of organic substances that can be added to polymers in order to improve some of their characteristics like elasticity and mechanical properties. Plasticizers are very important for the design of the selective polymeric membrane for potentiometric sensors, an important class of the electrochemical sensors. They fix the dielectric constant of the membrane and improve the selectivity of those devices. Ion – selective electrodes are instruments used in the potentiometric analysis. They have analytical applications in fields such as environment analysis, pharmaceutical analysis and, quality assurance in different fabrications. Choosing an appropriate plasticizer as well as an adequate electrode component and sometimes an additive is essential for the construction of an ion- selective electrode with high analytical performances such as sensibility, selectivity, fast response, and long lifetime.
