This review focuses on the recent achievement during period of 2013–2018 related to the electrochemical sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) combined with nanomaterials for various kinds of applications. MIPs based electrochemical sensors have found a great interest due to their high stability, short time required for electropolymerization, and high specificity towards the target analyte. The sensitivity is considered as one of the important parameter in electrochemical sensing strategies that should be improved by the combination of highly conductive nanomaterials with selective MIPs. In general, the most employed nanomaterials are magnetic nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), carbon nanotubes and graphene. This review discusses the main current achievement as well as the current challenges regarding the development of biomimetic sensors in electroanalysis.
Sulfonamides are known not only to be antimicrobial drugs that lead to antimicrobial resistance but also to be chemotherapeutic agents that may be allergenic and potentially carcinogenic, which represents a potentially hazardous compound once present in soil or water. Herein, a hybrid material based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-decorated magnetite nanoparticles for specific and label-free sulfonamide detection is reported. The composite has been characterized using different spectroscopic and imaging techniques. The magnetic properties of the composite are used to separate, preconcentrate, and manipulate the analyte which is selectively captured by the MIP onto the surface of the composite. Screen printed electrodes have been employed to monitor the impedance levels of the whole material, which is related to the amount of the captured analyte, via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. This composite-based sensing system exhibits an extraordinary limit of detection of 1 × 10(-12) mol L(-1) (2.8 × 10(-4) ppb) (S/N = 3), which is close to those obtained with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, and it was demonstrated to screen sulfamethoxazole in a complex matrix such as seawater, where according to the literature sulfonamides content is minimum compared with other environmental samples.
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