Amperometric Sensor for Heparin: Sensing Mechanism and Application in Human Blood Plasma Analysis

The effect of the functionalization and molecular weight of cationic dextran polyelectrolytes on their electrochemical behavior at the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface

The functionalization and molecular weight of cationic dextran polyelectrolytes have an impact on their adsorption and electrochemical behavior at the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface.

Revisiting the Response Mechanism of Polymeric Membrane Based Heparin Electrodes

Potentiometric membrane electrodes that respond to heparin and other polyanions were introduced in the early 1990s. Herein, the mechanism of polymer membrane electrode type heparin sensors is revisited. The extraction/diffusion of heparin is studied via both potentiometric and impedance spectroscopic techniques using a pre-fractionated heparin preparation that contains polyanionic species > 10000 Daltons. The reversal in EMF response using this heparin preparation indicates diffusion of higher MW heparin fragments to the backside of the membrane. Diffusion coefficients are calculated using a novel formula derived from the phase boundary potential model and Fick's second law of diffusion. Impedance spectroscopy is also employed to show that high MW heparin species are extracted and diffuse across the PVC membranes.

Polyion-sensitive membrane-based electrodes for heparin-binding foldamer analysis

Polymer membrane-based electrodes sensitive to low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) have been used to examine the binding between several preparations of LMWH and heparin-binding foldamers, which have recently been developed as potential inhibitors of the anticoagulant activity of LMWHs. It was found that the structure of the heparin-binding foldamer affects the equilibrium binding constant, K(eq), determined by analysis of the titration curves of the foldamers with LMWHs monitored with these electrodes, and further, the strength of binding depends on the specific LMWH preparation. Additionally, polymer membrane-based electrodes utilizing dinonylnaphthalene sulfonate as the ion-exchanger were developed to measure the heparin-binding foldamers directly in whole blood, and the response was found to depend on the lipophilicity and charge density of the foldamer.

Voltammetric extraction of heparin and low-molecular-weight heparin across 1,2-dichloroethane/water interfaces

Heparin and low-molecular-weight heparin are voltammetrically extracted across 1,2-dichloroethane/water interfaces for the detection of these highly sulfated polysaccharides widely used as anticoagulants/antithrombotics in many medical procedures. A new heparin ionophore, 1-[4-(dioctadecylcarbamoyl)butyl]guanidinium, is the first to enable the voltammetric extraction of various polyanionic heparins with average molecular weights of up to approximately 20 kDa including those in commercial preparations (i.e., Arixtra (1.5 kDa), Lovenox (4.5 kDa), and unfractionated heparin (15 kDa), as well as chromatographically fractionated heparins (7, 9, 15, and 20 kDa)). Facilitated Arixtra extraction is fully and quantitatively characterized by micropipet voltammetry to propose that cooperative effects from strong heparin-binding capability and high lipophilicity of this ionophore are required for the formation of an electrically neutral and highly lipophilic complex of a heparin molecule with multiple ionophore molecules to be extracted into the nonpolar organic phase. At the same time, the participation of multiple ionophore molecules in interfacial complexation with a heparin molecule slows down its extraction across the interface. This kinetic limitation is enhanced by fast mass transfer at a micropipet-supported interface to compromise thermodynamically favorable selectivity for heparin and an important contaminant, oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, thereby requiring a macroscopic interface for sensing applications. Another highly lipophilic guanidinium ionophore, N,N-dioctadecylguanidinium, cannot completely extract even Arixtra, which indicates the importance of elaborate ionophore design for heparin extraction.

Electrochemical study of insulin at the polarized liquid-liquid interface

This paper reports on the electrochemical behavior of bovine insulin at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES). The voltammetric ion-transfer response obtained in the presence of insulin was dependent on the aqueous phase pH conditions and on the nature of the organic phase electrolyte employed in experiments. Optimal detection was obtained at acidic pH below the isoelectric point of insulin where it was positively charged. A shift in transfer potentials to lower potential values was observed with decreasing hydrophobicity of the anion of the organic phase electrolyte. No ion-transfer response was observed at pH values of the aqueous phase above the isoelectric point, where insulin was negatively charged. These results suggest that the voltammetric response is due to ion-pairing interactions at the ITIES between positively charged insulin and the hydrophobic anion of the organic phase electrolyte, together with adsorption of the ion-pair at the interface. The voltammetric response was obtained for insulin at concentrations down to 1 muM. These results show that electrochemistry is useful in studying the behavior of this important protein molecule at the polarized water-1,2-DCE interface and provides an alternative detection mode for bioanalytical applications.

Stripping analysis of nanomolar perchlorate in drinking water with a voltammetric ion-selective electrode based on thin-layer liquid membrane

A highly sensitive analytical method is required for the assessment of nanomolar perchlorate contamination in drinking water as an emerging environmental problem. We developed the novel approach based on a voltammetric ion-selective electrode to enable the electrochemical detection of "redox-inactive" perchlorate at a nanomolar level without its electrolysis. The perchlorate-selective electrode is based on the submicrometer-thick plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane spin-coated on the poly(3-octylthiophene)-modified gold electrode. The liquid membrane serves as the first thin-layer cell for ion-transfer stripping voltammetry to give low detection limits of 0.2-0.5 nM perchlorate in deionized water, commercial bottled water, and tap water under a rotating electrode configuration. The detection limits are not only much lower than the action limit (approximately 246 nM) set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but also are comparable to the detection limits of the most sensitive analytical methods for detecting perchlorate, that is, ion chromatography coupled with a suppressed conductivity detector (0.55 nM) or electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (0.20-0.25 nM). The mass transfer of perchlorate in the thin-layer liquid membrane and aqueous sample as well as its transfer at the interface between the two phases were studied experimentally and theoretically to achieve the low detection limits. The advantages of ion-transfer stripping voltammetry with a thin-layer liquid membrane against traditional ion-selective potentiometry are demonstrated in terms of a detection limit, a response time, and selectivity.

Electrochemical recognition of synthetic heparin mimetic at liquid/liquid microinterfaces

Electrochemically controlled molecular recognition of a synthetic heparin mimetic, Arixtra, at nitrobenzene/water microinterfaces was investigated to obtain a greater understanding of interfacial recognition and sensing of heparin and its analogues with biomedical importance. In contrast to unfractionated heparin, this synthetic pentasaccharide that mimics the unique Antithrombin III binding domain of heparin possesses well-defined structure and ionic charge to enable quantitative interpretation of cyclic voltammetric/chronoamperometric responses based on the interfacial recognition at micropipet electrodes. Arixtra is electrochemically extracted from the water phase into the bulk nitrobenzene phase containing highly lipophilic ionophores, methyltridodecylammonium or dimethyldioctadecylammonium. Numerical analysis of the kinetically controlled cyclic voltammograms demonstrates for the first time that formal potentials and standard rate constants of polyion transfer at liquid/liquid interfaces are ionophore dependent. Moreover, octadecylammonium and octadecylguanidinium are introduced as new, simple ionophores to model recognition sites of heparin-binding proteins at liquid/liquid interfaces. In comparison to octadecyltrimethylammonium, the best ionophore for heparin recognition at liquid/liquid interfaces reported so far, these new ionophores dramatically facilitate Arixtra adsorption at the interfaces. With a saline solution at physiological pH, an Arixtra molecule is selectively and cooperatively bound to 5 molecules of the guanidinium ionophore, suggesting hydrogen-bond-directed interactions of each guanidinium with a few of 10 negatively charged sulfo or carboxyl groups of Arixtra at the interfaces.

Electrochemistry of non-redox-active poly(propylenimine) and poly(amidoamine) dendrimers at liquid-liquid interfaces

The electrochemistry of a series of dendrimers was examined at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES), enabling study of non-redox-active dendrimers. Different generations of poly(propylenimine) (DAB-AM-n) and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers were studied. In their protonated states, the dendrimers were transferred across the ITIES, with the electrochemical behavior observed depending on the dendrimer family, the generation number, and the experimental pH. The electrochemistry of the lower generations studied was characterized by well-defined peaks for both dendrimer families and with small peak-peak separations in the case of the PAMAM family. The voltammetry of the higher generations was more complex, showing distorted voltammograms and instability of the interface. The charges of the transferring dendrimers were calculated by convolution of the voltammetric data and were similar to the theoretical charges for DAB-AM-n. For PAMAM, only the lowest generation exhibited reversible behavior, with higher generations having irreversible behavior. Using cyclic voltammetry, low micromolar concentrations of the dendrimers were detected. The results show that electrochemistry at the ITIES can be a useful method for characterization of ionizable dendrimers and that voltammetry can be a simple method for detection of low concentrations of these multicharged species.

Potentiometric Sensor for Heparin Polyion: Transient Behavior and Response Mechanism

Chronopotentiometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to study the transient behavior and the potentiometric response mechanism of the polymer membrane-based sensor for heparin. Membrane with a composition of 66 wt % poly(vinyl chloride), 33 wt % o-nitrophenyl octyl ether (plasticizer), and 0.05 M tridodecylmethylammonium chloride (ion exchanger) was deposited on the surface of a silver or a glassy carbon (GC) electrode. In the latter case, the membrane contained also 0.1 M 1,1'-dimethylferrocene/1,1'-dimethylferricenium+ couple ensuring the electronic contact between the membrane and GC. The sensor was dipped in an aqueous solution of 0.1 M LiCl, which was stirred with a magnetic stirrer (2-18.2 Hz), and eventually spiked with heparin (0.05-5 U mL-1). Chronopotentiometric measurements were carried out using either the Ag supported membrane with a thickness>100 microm or the GC supported membrane with a defined thickness of 2-30 microm, which was also used in impedance measurements. Remarkable features of the potentiometric response include the linear dependence of the initial slope of the potential transient on the heparin concentration in the aqueous phase and on the square root of the stirring frequency, and the absence of the effect of the membrane thickness. Impedance measurements (0.1 Hz-10 kHz) made it possible to identify and to evaluate the geometric capacitance and the capacitance of the electric double layer at the membrane/solution interface, the bulk membrane and charge-transfer resistances, and the Warburg impedance of the chloride transport. Changes in the membrane bulk and charge-transfer resistances and the Warburg impedance upon spiking the aqueous solution with heparin were found to be consistent with the steady-state response of approximately -25 mV, indicating that the bulk chloride concentration in the membrane decreased to about half of its initial value. A novel theoretical model of the transient behavior was developed based on the balance of the charging and the faradic currents of chloride and heparin, in accordance with the ion-exchange mechanism that has been proposed previously. It was concluded that the initial slope of the potential transient is linked to the charging of the double layer coupled to the chloride ion transfer across the membrane/solution interface and to the diffusion-limited transport of heparin in the solution. The potentiometric assay of heparin could be based on measurements of the initial slope of the potential transient or the potential at a fixed time shortly after the heparin injection.