3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) Sensing Based on Electropolymerized Molecularly Imprinted Polymers on Silver Nanoparticles and Carboxylated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) is a harmful and controlled synthetic cathinone used as a psychostimulant drug and as sport-enhancing substance. A sensor was developed for the direct analysis of MDPV by transducing its oxidation signal by means of an electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer (e-MIP) built in-situ on the screen-printed carbon electrode’s (SPCE) surface previously covered with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Benzene-1,2-diamine was used as the functional monomer while the analyte was used as the template monomer. Each step of the sensor’s development was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in a solution containing ferricyanide, however no redox probe was required for the actual MDPV measurements. The interaction between the poly(o-phenylenediamine) imprinted polymer and MDPV was studied by density-functional theory (DFT) methods. The SPCE-MWCNT-AgNP-MIP sensor responded adequately to the variation of MDPV concentration. It was shown that AgNPs enhanced the electrochemical signal by around a 3-fold factor. Making use of square-wave voltammetry (SWV) the developed sensor provided a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.8 μmol L–1. The analytical performance of the proposed sensor paves the way to the development of a portable device for MDPV on-site sensing to be applied in forensic and doping analysis.

Interpol Review of Drug Analysis 2019-2022

“…2020 electrochemical detection of MDPV [ 208 ]; 2021 sensor for the direct analysis of MDPV [ 209 ].…”

A review of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for bioanalytical sensors

“…That is, when researchers design electrode materials, EIS is used at each step of the electrode construction process to confirm successful immobilisation of electrode modifications. Literature reports that use EIS only in this way have been discounted from this section (there are several examples of this that were filtered from this review from 2021 and 2020 7,9–27 ). Instead, this section seeks to present literature reports of EIS when used as the technique of choice for generating a quantitative analytical signal.…”

Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Sensors for SARS-CoV-2: Where Are We Now?

“…The integration of nanomaterials increases the active surface area and thereby enhances the sensitivity of the sensors. For this reason, a variety of nanomaterials, such as magnetic nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes, graphene, and its derivatives), metallic nanoparticles (Au nanoparticles (NPs), PtNPs, AgNPs), quantum dots, and nanocomposites, have been presented in the literature [ 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 ].…”