With an established procedure of molecular imprinting, a synthetic polymer receptor for the neopterin cancer biomarker was devised and used as a recognition unit of a potentiometric chemosensor. For that, bis-bithiophene derivatized with cytosine and bithiophene derivatized with boronic acid were used as functional monomers. The open-circuit potential (OCP) based transduction under flow-injection analysis conditions (FIA) determined neopterin in the concentration range of 0.15-2.5mM with the 22 µM limit of detection (LOD) and 7.01(±0.15) mVmM(-1) sensitivity indicating its potential suitability in clinical analysis applications. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film showed an appreciable apparent imprinting factor of ~6. The chemosensor successfully discriminated the interferences including the 6-biopterin and pterin structural analogs of neopterin as well as glucose and creatinine. Moreover, it determined neopterin in synthetic serum samples.
Keywords: Cancer biomarker; Molecularly imprinted polymer; Neopterin; Open-circuit potential; Potentiometric chemosensor.
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