Development and Fabrication of a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Electroanalytical Sensor for the Determination of Acyclovir

Abdullah Al Faysal; Ahmet Cetinkaya; Sariye Irem Kaya; Taner Erdoğan; Sibel A Ozkan; Ayşegül Gölcü

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c09399

Development and Fabrication of a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Electroanalytical Sensor for the Determination of Acyclovir

ACS Omega. 2024 Feb 12;9(8):9564-9576. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c09399. eCollection 2024 Feb 27.

Authors

Abdullah Al Faysal¹, Ahmet Cetinkaya^{2

3}, Sariye Irem Kaya⁴, Taner Erdoğan⁵, Sibel A Ozkan², Ayşegül Gölcü¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Sciences and Letters, Department of Chemistry, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul 34469, Turkey.
² Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ankara University, Ankara 06560, Turkey.
³ Graduate School of Health Sciences, Ankara University, Ankara 06110, Turkey.
⁴ Gulhane Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Health Sciences, Ankara 06018, Turkey.
⁵ Kocaeli Vocational School, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Processing Technologies, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli 41140, Turkey.

Abstract

Acyclovir (ACV), a synthetic nucleoside derivative of purine, is one of the most potent antiviral medications recommended in the specific management of varicella-zoster and herpes simplex viruses. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was utilized to create an effective and specific electrochemical sensor using a straightforward photopolymerization process to determine ACV. The polymeric thin coating was developed using the template molecule ACV, a functional monomer acrylamide, a basic monomer 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, a cross-linker ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and a photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone on the exterior of the glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Scanning electron microscopy, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry were employed for the purpose of characterizing the constructed sensor (AM-ACV@MIP/GCE). Differential pulse voltammetry and a 5 mM ferrocyanide/ferricyanide ([Fe(CN)₆]^3-/4-) redox reagent were used to detect the ACV binding to the specific cavities on MIP. The study involves density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which were conducted to investigate template-functional monomer interactions thoroughly, calculate template-functional monomer interaction energies, and determine the optimal template/functional monomer ratio. DFT calculations were performed using Becke's three-parameter hybrid functional with the Lee-Yang-Parr correlation functional (B3LYP) method and 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The sensor exhibits linear performance throughout the concentration region 1 × 10^-11 to 1 × 10^-10 M, and the limit of detection and limit of quantification were 7.15 × 10^-13 M and 2.38 × 10^-12 M, respectively. For the electrochemical study of ACV, the sensor demonstrated high accuracy, precision, robustness, and a short detection time. Furthermore, the developed electrochemical sensor exhibited exceptional recovery in tablet dosage form and commercial human blood samples, with recoveries of 99.40 and 100.44%, respectively. The findings showed that the AM-ACV@MIP/GCE sensor would effectively be used to directly assess pharmaceuticals from actual specimens and would particularly detect ACV compared to structurally similar pharmaceutical compounds.