Single-step electropolymerization on a printed sensor towards a conductive thin film polymer for the simultaneous determination of drug metabolites: 5-aminosalicylic acid and sulfapyridine.

Amino acid conductive polymers can easily form a thin film on a sensor surface by an electrochemical process. Therefore, we are pioneers in reporting the electropolymerization of L-methionine on the surface of a screen-printed graphene electrode to obtain a disposable electrochemical sensor for determining drug metabolites (5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) and sulfapyridine (SPD)) of sulfasalazine (SSZ) simultaneously. In this work, the developed sensor was facilely created through a single step of electropolymerization under mild conditions (0.1 M phosphate buffer pH 7.0) using cyclic voltammetry. Important parameters in the synthesis process were systematically investigated followed by surface composition and morphology studies. Then, analytical performances, comprising sensitivity, selectivity, stability, reproducibility, and sample preparation, were carefully evaluated. Under optimal conditions, the proposed methodology demonstrated a highly sensitive and selective simultaneous detection of 5-ASA and SPD with wide linear dynamic ranges of 1-50 µM and 80-250 µM and low detection limits of 0.60 and 0.57 µM for 5-ASA and SPD, respectively. To evaluate the potential of the designed sensor, it was successfully applied by simultaneously determining 5-ASA and SPD in real human urine samples on the same day (intra-day study) and on three different days (inter-day study).

A novel and easy-to-construct polymeric l-glutamic acid-modified sensor for urinary 1-hydroxypyrene detection: Human biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exposure.

1-Hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), a metabolite of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is a frequently used biomarker for assessing human exposure to PAHs. Therefore, the technology that provides a quick, simple, cost-effective, portable, accurate, precise, and reliable test is still in great demand. To the best of our knowledge, the creation of an electrochemical device based on poly(l-glutamic acid)-modified a screen-printed graphene electrode (poly(L-GA)/SPGE) for 1-OHP detection was described for the first time. The developed sensor was simply and rapidly manufactured via only a single step of electropolymerization. All the concerned parameters and electroanalytical conditions were studied to obtain the best performance of the methodology. Under optimal conditions, the 1-OHP sensing provided a linear range of 1-1000 nM with the limits of detection and quantification of 0.95 and 3.16 nM, respectively. Moreover, this developed sensor was successfully utilized by determining 1-OHP in human urine samples. In comparison with conventional methods, this newly proposed electrochemical methodology might be tremendously valuable for 1-OHP evaluation in environmental and occupational applications, leading to the early detection of illness risk linked to PAHs in the human body.