Electrochemical Sensing of α-Fetoprotein Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymerized Ionic Liquid Film on a Gold Nanoparticle Modified Electrode Surface

Sensors (Basel). 2019 Jul 22;19(14):3218. doi: 10.3390/s19143218.

Abstract

A molecularly imprinted sensor was fabricated for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) using an ionic liquid as a functional monomer. Ionic liquid possesses many excellent characteristics which can improve the sensing performances of the imprinted electrochemical sensor. To demonstrate this purpose, 1-[3-(N-cystamine)propyl]-3-vinylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid [(Cys)VIMBF4] was synthesized and used as a functional monomer to fabricate an AFP imprinted polymerized ionic liquid film on a gold nanoparticle modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface at room temperature. After removing the AFP template, a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor was successfully prepared. The molecularly imprinted sensor exhibits excellent selectivity towards AFP, and can be used for sensitive determination of AFP. Under the optimized conditions, the imprinted sensor shows a good linear response to AFP in the concentration range of 0.03 ng mL-1~5 ng mL-1. The detection limit is estimated to be 2 pg mL-1.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles; ionic liquid; molecularly imprinted; α-fetoprotein.

MeSH terms

  • Electrochemical Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Electrochemical Techniques / methods
  • Electrodes*
  • Equipment Design
  • Gold
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Ionic Liquids / chemistry*
  • Limit of Detection
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Molecular Imprinting / methods*
  • Polymerization
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Temperature
  • Time Factors
  • alpha-Fetoproteins / analysis*

Substances

  • Ionic Liquids
  • alpha-Fetoproteins
  • Gold