Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are one of the most important
types of antibiotics
in the clinical, poultry, and aquaculture industries, and their monitoring
is required as the abuse has led to severe issues, such as antibiotic
residues and antimicrobial resistance. In this study, we report a
voltammetric electronic tongue (ET) for the simultaneous determination
of ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and moxifloxacin in both pharmaceutical
and biological samples. The ET comprises four sensors modified with
three different customized molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and
a nonimprinted polymer integrated with Au nanoparticle-decorated multiwall
carbon nanotubes (Au-fMWCNTs). MWCNTs were first functionalized to
serve as a supporting substrate, while the anchored Au nanoparticles
acted as a catalyst. Subsequently, MIP films were obtained by electropolymerization
of pyrrole in the presence of the different target FQs. The sensors’
morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission
electron microscopy, while the modification process was followed electrochemically
step by step employing [Fe(CN)6]3–/4– as the redox probe. Under the optimal conditions, the MIP(FQs)@Au-fMWCNT
sensors exhibited different responses, limits of detection of ca. 1 μM, and a wide detection range up to 300 μM
for the three FQs. Lastly, the developed ET presents satisfactory
agreement between the expected and obtained values when used for the
simultaneous determination of mixtures of the three FQs (R
2 ≥0.960, testing subset), which was also applied
to the analysis of FQs in commercial pharmaceuticals and spiked human
urine samples.