Development and Fabrication of Poly(o-phenylenediamine)-Based Molecularly Imprinted Electroanalytical Sensor for the Determination of a Potent Anticancer Agent, Nelarabine

Abstract Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based electrochemical sensors have been generally exploited for the electrodes' modification by virtue of their inherent specificity for the intrinsic template molecules. The purpose of the present research is to develop a MIP sensor via electrochemical polymerization for sensitive and selective determination of Nelarabine (NEL), a water-soluble prodrug of 9-β-d-arabinofuranosylguanine (ara-G). For the design of the MIP-based electrochemical sensor (MIP/PoPD/GCE), o-phenylenediamine (oPD) was chosen as the functional monomer. Electrochemical characterization of the MIP/PoPD/GCE sensor was carried out using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry, and surface characterization by scanning electron microscopy. Under the selected optimum experimental conditions, the dynamic linear reply range for NEL concentrations by the designed MIP sensor was between from 10.0 fM to 250.0 fM with limit of detection as 3.2 fM, demonstrating a good sensitivity as 1.0x1015 μA M-1 for NEL detection based on measurements performed by differential pulse voltammetry. Electroanalytical implementations of the proposed MIP/PoPD/GCE sensor were studied employing pharmaceutical dosage forms and human serum samples.