Electrochemical Detection of Tenofovir through Quenching of Chloride Ion-Mediated Gold Electrodissolution

Abstract

Tenofovir (TNF) is a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor used as an antiviral medication to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus infections. The extensive use of TNF can result in its release into the environment, and there is growing interest in developing simple and costeffective methods for detecting TNF. We report that the electrochemical dissolution of gold in a chloride ion-containing electrolyte is suppressed in the presence of TNF. The quenching of the gold electrodissolution response is the result of the adsorption of TNF onto the gold surface. A simple analysis shows that we can relate the degree of TNF surface coverage to the relative size of the quenching of the gold electrodissolution response and follow the time-dependent absorption of TNF onto the gold electrode surface.■ EXPERIMENTAL SECTION Chemicals. TNF was purchased from Sigma (PHR1592-1G, CAS: 206184-49-8). Phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution was purchased from HyClone (Cat No: SH30256.02) that contains 154