Molecular-Imprinted, Polymer-Coated Quartz Crystal Microbalances for the Detection of Terpenes

Abstract

A piezoelectric sensor coated with an artificial biomimetic recognition element has been developed for the determination of L-menthol in the liquid phase. A highly specific noncovalently imprinted polymer (MIP) was cast in situ on to the surface of a gold-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode as a thin permeable film. Selective rebinding of the target analyte was observed as a frequency shift quantified by piezoelectric microgravimetry with the QCM. The detectability of L-menthol was 200 ppb with a response range of 0-1.0 ppm. The response of the MIP-QCM to a range of monoterpenes was investigated with the sensor binding menthol in favor of analogous compounds. The sensor was able to distinguish between the D- and L-enantiomers of menthol owing to the enantioselectivity of the imprinted sites. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing enantiomeric resolution within an MIP utilizing a single monomer-functional moiety interaction. It is envisaged that this technique could be employed to determine the concentration of terpenes in the atmosphere.

Pulse mode shear horizontal-surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) system for liquid based sensing applications

“…This suggests that it should be possible to use relatively thick wave-guiding layers without completely sacrificing to mass sensitivity and hence, extend the range of wave-guide materials that can be used with layer guided acoustic sensors. Molecularly imprinted polymer materials (MIP) show potential for sensitising layers on acoustic wave devices (Percival et al 2001(Percival et al ,2002. However to the authors knowledge, there have been no reports of techniques for fabricating MIP films of controlled thickness in the range 0.1-5 µm required for operating in the first Love mode.…”

A Cyclodextrin Self-Assembled Monolayer (SAM) Based Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Sensor for Enantioselective Analysis of Thyroxine

“…Nevertheless, there are some reports on the use of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) [10][11][12][13][14] and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) [15,16] based sensors for enantio-analysis of mixtures. For example, it has been shown that imprinted polymer films could be efficient QCM functional layers for enantioselective detection of serine [10], terpenes [11], dansyl-phenylalanine [12] and propanolol [13]. Paolese et al [14] have shown that a self assembled monolayer (SAM) of a porphyrin diad on a QCM electrode is able to enantio-discriminate analytes in the gas-phase.…”

Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride by molecular imprinted film modified TiO2 nanotubes

“…Since Vlatakis et al [13] reported theophylline and diazepam molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for mimicking antibody combining sites, interest in the molecularly imprinting technique has increased because of its unique properties of predetermination, selectivity and specific affinity for templates [14][15][16]. Recently, Shen et al [17,18] developed a new way to enhance the PC efficiency of TiO 2 nanoparticles by imprinting the target molecule onto a photocatalyst's surface.…”