Flow characteristics of a versatile wall-jet or radial-flow thin-layer large-volume cell for electrochemical detection in flow-through analytical systems

Selective Impedimetric Chemosensing of Carcinogenic Heterocyclic Aromatic Amine in Pork by dsDNA-Mimicking Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Film-Coated Electrodes

Inspired by the easy intercalation of quinoxaline heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) in double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), we synthesized a nucleobase-functionalized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as the recognition unit of an impedimetric chemosensor for the selective determination of a 2-amino-3,7,8-trimethyl-3H-imidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (7,8-DiMeIQx) HAA. HAAs are generated in meat and fish processed at high temperatures. They are considered to be potent hazardous carcinogens. The MIP film was prepared by potentiodynamic electropolymerization of a pre-polymerization complex of two adenine- and one thymine-substituted bis(2,2'-bithien-5-yl)methane functional monomer molecules with one 7,8-DiMeIQx template molecule, in the presence of the 2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexa(thiophene-2-yl)-3,3'-bithiophene cross-linking monomer, in solution. The as-formed MIP chemosensor allowed for the selective impedimetric determination of 7,8-DiMeIQx in the 47 to 400 μM linear dynamic concentration range with a limit of detection of 15.5 μM. The chemosensor was successfully applied for 7,8-DiMeIQx determination in the pork meat extract as a proof of concept.

An electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer for selective carnosine sensing with impedimetric capacity

Functional monomers are designed for the development of a polymer with molecular cavities selective for the carnosine dipeptide recognition and quantification.

Direct identification and analysis of heavy metals in solution (Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni) by use of in situ electrochemical X-ray fluorescence

The development and application of a new methodology, in situ electrochemical X-ray fluorescence (EC-XRF), is described that enables direct identification and quantification of heavy metals in solution. A freestanding film of boron-doped diamond serves as both an X-ray window and the electrode material. The electrode is biased at a suitable driving potential to electroplate metals from solution onto the electrode surface. Simultaneously, X-rays that pass through the back side of the electrode interrogate the time-dependent electrodeposition process by virtue of the XRF signals, which are unique to each metal. In this way it is possible to unambiguously identify which metals are in solution and relate the XRF signal intensity to a concentration of metal species in solution. To increase detection sensitivity and reduce detection times, solution is flown over the electrode surface by use of a wall-jet configuration. Initial studies focused on the in situ detection of Pb(2+), where concentration detection limits of 99 nM were established in this proof-of-concept study (although significantly lower values are anticipated with system refinement). This is more than 3 orders of magnitude lower than that achievable by XRF alone in a flowing solution (0.68 mM). In situ EC-XRF measurements were also carried out on a multimetal solution containing Hg(2+), Pb(2+), Cu(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+), and Fe(3+) (all at 10 μM concentration). Identification of five of these metals was possible in one simple measurement. In contrast, while anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) also revealed five peaks, peak identification was not straightforward, requiring further experiments and prior knowledge of the metals in solution. Time-dependent EC-XRF nucleation data for the five metals, recorded simultaneously, demonstrated similar deposition rates. Studies are now underway to lower detection limits and provide a quantitative understanding of EC-XRF responses in real, multimetal solutions. Finally, the production of custom-designed portable in situ EC-XRF instrumentation will make heavy metal analysis at the source a very realistic possibility.

Fullerene derived molecularly imprinted polymer for chemosensing of adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP)

For molecular imprinting of oxidatively electroactive analytes by electropolymerization, we used herein reductively electroactive functional monomers. As a proof of concept, we applied C60 fullerene adducts as such for the first time. For that, we derivatized C60 to bear either an uracil or an amide, or a carboxy addend for recognition of the adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) oxidizable analyte with the ATP-templated molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP-ATP). Accordingly, the ATP complex with all of the functional monomers formed in solution was potentiodynamically electropolymerized to deposit an MIP-ATP film either on an Au electrode of the quartz crystal resonator or on a Pt disk electrode for the piezoelectric microgravimetry (PM) or capacitive impedimetry (CI) determination of ATP, respectively, under the flow-injection analysis (FIA) conditions. The apparent imprinting factor for ATP was ∼4.0. After extraction of the ATP template, analytical performance of the resulting chemosensors, including detectability, sensitivity, and selectivity, was characterized. The limit of detection was 0.3 and 0.03mM ATP for the PM and CI chemosensor, respectively. The MIP-ATP film discriminated structural analogues of ATP quite well. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Langmuir-Freundlich isotherms were fitted to the experimental data of the ATP sorption and sorption stability constants appeared to be nearly independent of the adopted sorption model.

Electrochemically synthesized molecularly imprinted polymer of thiophene derivatives for flow-injection analysis determination of adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP)

Two selective chemosensors for adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) determination featuring molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film recognition units were fabricated. For imprinting, three different thiophene derivatives were used as functional monomers. That is, the uracil substituent of bis(2,2'-bithienyl)methane 2 complementarily H-bond paired the adenine moiety of ATP, the boronic acid substituent of thiophene 3 covalently bound vicinal diols of the ribofuranose moiety, and amide substituents of bis(2,2'-bithienyl)methanes 4 bound to the pyrophosphate moieties. Different binding motifs adopted for the ATP recognition and the structure of the supramolecular pre-polymerization complex were optimized with the DFT computing at the B3LYP/3-21G((*)) level. MIP films were prepared by potentiodynamic electropolymerization of this complex with the imprinting factor of 9.47±0.2. An analytical signal was transduced with a 10-MHz resonator of EQCM and a Pt electrode for the piezoelectric microgravimetry (PM) and capacitive impedometry (CI) determination of ATP, respectively, under FIA conditions. Analytical properties of the MIP film were unraveled by spectroscopic ellipsometry, XPS, IRRAS, and DPV. The limit of detection was 0.1 and 0.2 μM for the PM and CI chemosensor, respectively, being an order of magnitude lower than the ATP concentration in biological systems. Moreover, cross-selectivity was demonstrated with the adenosine-5'-diphosphate (ADP) imprinting and ATP discrimination.

Visualization and Modeling of the Hydrodynamics of an Impinging Microjet

The use of fluorescence confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) for flow visualization is described, with a focus on elucidating the pattern of flow in the microjet electrode (MJE). The MJE employs a nozzle, formed from a fine glass capillary, with an inner diameter of approximately 100 microm, to direct solution at an electrode surface, using high velocity but at moderate volume flow rates. For CLSM visualization, the jetted solution contains a fluorescent probe, fluorescein at high pH, which flows into a solution buffered at low pH, where the fluorescence is extinguished, thereby highlighting the flow field of the impinging microjet. The morphology of the microjet and the hydrodynamic boundary layer are shown to be highly sensitive to the volume flow rate, with a collimated jet and thin boundary layer formed at the faster flow rates (approximately 1 cm(3) min(-1)). In contrast, at lower flow rates and for relatively large substrates, an unusual recirculation zone is observed experimentally for the first time. This effect can be eliminated by employing small substrates. The experimental observations have been quantified through numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations of continuity and momentum balance. The new insights provided by CLSM imaging demonstrate that flow in the MJE, and impinging jets in general, are more complex than predicted by classical models but are well-defined and quantifiable.