A highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for the simultaneous determination of catechol (CC) and hydroquinone (HQ) was manufactured by electrochemical polymerization of alizarin red S (ARS) onto graphene doped with B and N on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The composite film showed excellent electrocatalytic activity and reversibility toward the oxidation of both CC and HQ in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 6.5). Synchronously, the oxidation peak potentials of CC and HQ become separated by 101 mV, which ensured the anti-interference ability of the sensor and made simultaneous detection of CC and HQ possible in real samples. The peak currents increased linearly with their concentration over the range of 1.0 × 10 −6 to 1.0 × 10 −4 M, and the detection limits for CC and HQ were 1.1 × 10 −7 M and 1.9 × 10 −7 M (S/N = 3), respectively. The developed sensor was successfully examined for real sample analysis with lake water and it showed a stable and reliable recovery data.Catechol (CC, o-quinone) and hydroquinone (HQ, 1,4-benzoquinone) are two isomers of phenolic compounds, which are widely used in dye, tanning, pesticides, flavoring agents, cosmetics and medicines. 1 These compounds with high toxicity and low degradability are considered to be significant environmental pollutants by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Union (EU), 2 which are grievous injury to plants, animals and natural environments even at very low concentration. 3,4 What's more, these compounds can lead to headache, tachycardia, fatigue at high concentration. 5,6 Therefore, it is important to find a simple, fast and reliable analytical method for selective and sensitive determination of CC and HQ. Up to now, a variety of approaches have been developed, including gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, 7 synchronous fluorescence, 8 liquid chromatography/ultraviolet spectrometry, 9,10 chemiluminescence, 11,12 pH based-flow injection analysis 13 and spectrophotometry. 14,15 Nevertheless, most of these methods are either time-consuming or require sophisticated and expensive instruments, well controlled experimental conditions and some sample pretreatments. 16 In recent years, electrochemical methods are preferable over all these proposed methods for the simultaneous detection of such analytes as they are not only sensitive and simple but more feasible for miniaturization of analysis. 17 Alizarin red S (ARS) is a kind of anthraquinone dyestuff with electrochemical activity. 18 And due to dihydroxy and anthraquinone in the molecule, ARS after quasireversible reduction can give a stable polymeric alizarin red S (PARS). 19 It has been successfully deposited onto the glassy carbon electrode surface and used to detect small organic compounds. 20 And chitosan (CS) is an important natural biopolymer with abundant amino and hydroxyl groups, which is suitable used to construct sensors due to its good adhesion and good film formation ability. 21 As a monolayer of carbon atoms closely packed into tw...