N. Kirsch et al., Towards the development of molecularly imprinted polymer based screen-printed sensors for metabolites of PAHs, ANALYST, 126(11), 2001, pp. 1936-1941
This paper describes the fabrication of a sensor for 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP
) based on a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) modified with a molecul
arly imprinted polymer (MIP); 1-OHP was chosen as a model metabolite of pol
yaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It was shown that 1-OHP could be readily oxi
dised at a plain SPCE and the electrochemical mechanism was found to involv
e an ECE (electron transfer-chemical reaction-electron transfer) process. T
he MIP for 1-OHP was prepared using only divinylbenzene (DVB) and styrene a
s monomers and the binding was only based on hydrophobic interactions. Batc
h binding studies revealed that optimum uptake of 1-OHP by the MIP occurred
from solutions containing 35% water in methanol. Selectivity of the bindin
g sites in the MIP was examined by performing uptake studies in the same so
lution containing either phenol or 1-naphthol; the specific binding of 1-OH
P was twenty times greater than the former and five times greater than the
latter. Preliminary calibration studies were performed with the MIP-SPCE us
ing a two-step approach; accumulation was carried out in 35% water in metha
nol followed by measurement in 50% methanol-0.025 mol dm(-3) phosphate buff
er pH 12. This two-step non-competitive affinity assay gave encouraging res
ults and indicated potential for use in pollution studies.