Magnetic glass carbon electrode, modified with magnetic ferriferrous oxide nanoparticles coated with molecularly imprinted polymer films for electrochemical determination of bovine hemoglobin

Recent Advances in Molecular Imprinting for Proteins on Magnetic Microspheres

The separation of proteins in biological samples plays an essential role in the development of disease detection, drug discovery, and biological analysis. Protein imprinted polymers (PIPs) serve as a tool to capture target proteins specifically and selectively from complex media for separation purposes. Whereas conventional molecularly imprinted polymer is time-consuming in terms of incubation studies and solvent removal, magnetic particles are introduced using their magnetic properties for sedimentation and separation, resulting in saving extraction and centrifugation steps. Magnetic protein imprinted polymers (MPIPs), which combine molecularly imprinting materials with magnetic properties, have emerged as a new area of research hotspot. This review provides an overview of MPIPs for proteins, including synthesis, preparation strategies, and applications. Moreover, it also looks forward to the future directions for research in this emerging field.

Modified Graphite Pencil Electrode Based on Graphene Oxide-Modified Fe3O4 for Ferrocene-Mediated Electrochemical Detection of Hemoglobin

This study describes the synthesis of graphene oxide-modified magnetite (rGO/Fe₃O₄) and its use as an electrochemical sensor for the quantitative detection of hemoglobin (Hb). rGO is characterized by a 2θ peak at 10.03° in its X-ray diffraction, 1353 and 1586 cm^-1 vibrations in Raman spectroscopy, while scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy of rGO and rGO/Fe₃O₄ revealed the presence of microplate structures in both materials and high presence of iron in rGO/Fe₃O₄ with 50 wt %. The modified graphite pencil electrode, GPE/rGO/Fe₃O₄, is characterized using cyclic voltammetry. Higher electrochemical surface area is obtained when the GPE is modified with rGO/Fe₃O₄. Linear scan voltammetry is used to quantify Hb at the surface of the sensor using ferrocene (FC) as an electrochemical amplifier. Linear response for Hb is obtained in the 0.1-1.8 μM range with a regression coefficient of 0.995, a lower limit of detection of 0.090 μM, and a limit of quantitation of 0.28 μM. The sensor was free from interferents and successfully used to sense Hb in human urine. Due to the above-stated qualities, the GPE/rGO/Fe₃O₄ electrode could be a potential competitive sensor for trace quantities of Hb in physiological media.

Magnetite-Based Biosensors and Molecular Logic Gates: From Magnetite Synthesis to Application

In the last few decades, point-of-care (POC) sensors have become increasingly important in the detection of various targets for the early diagnostics and treatment of diseases. Diverse nanomaterials are used as building blocks for the development of smart biosensors and magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) are among them. The intrinsic properties of MNPs, such as their large surface area, chemical stability, ease of functionalization, high saturation magnetization, and more, mean they have great potential for use in biosensors. Moreover, the unique characteristics of MNPs, such as their response to external magnetic fields, allow them to be easily manipulated (concentrated and redispersed) in fluidic media. As they are functionalized with biomolecules, MNPs bear high sensitivity and selectivity towards the detection of target biomolecules, which means they are advantageous in biosensor development and lead to a more sensitive, rapid, and accurate identification and quantification of target analytes. Due to the abovementioned properties of functionalized MNPs and their unique magnetic characteristics, they could be employed in the creation of new POC devices, molecular logic gates, and new biomolecular-based biocomputing interfaces, which would build on new ideas and principles. The current review outlines the synthesis, surface coverage, and functionalization of MNPs, as well as recent advancements in magnetite-based biosensors for POC diagnostics and some perspectives in molecular logic, and it also contains some of our own results regarding the topic, which include synthetic MNPs, their application for sample preparation, and the design of fluorescent-based molecular logic gates.

Self-Assembled Nanostructures from Amphiphilic Sucrose-Soyates for Solubilizing Hydrophobic Guest Molecules

We studied self-assembly and colloidal properties of poly(ethylene glycol) (pEG) conjugated sucrose soyate polyols (PSSP). These molecular platforms were synthesized by covalently connecting PEGs of different molecular weights (M_n) (12 and 16 ethylene oxide units) to epoxidized sucrose soyate (ESS). The synthesized PSSP products showed amphiphilicity, reduced water surface tension, and exhibited critical Aggregation Concentration (CAC) within the range of 0.3-0.4 mg/mL. We observed that PSSP self-assembles in water in the form of nanoparticles without the need of any cosolvents. These nanoparticles exhibited number-average hydrodynamic diameter of 120 ± 8 nm with a polydispersity index (PDI) of <0.3, and negatively charged surfaces. We also found out that PSSP nanoparticles can encapsulate and homogeneously distribute a hydrophobic model compound, such as a phthalocyanine dye, Solvent Blue-70 (BL-70), on a metal surface. Collectively, our studies explored and demonstrated the possibility of molecular diversification of biobased starting materials to form amphiphilic nanoparticles with industrially relevant colloidal and surface properties.

Application progress of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers chemical sensors in the detection of biomarkers

Specific recognition and highly sensitive detection of biomarkers play an essential role in identification, early diagnosis and prevention of many diseases. Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) have been widely used to capture biomimetic receptors for targets in various complex matrices due to their superior recognition ability, structural stability, and rapid separation characteristics, which overcome the existing deficiencies of traditional recognition elements such as antibodies, aptamers. The integration of MMIPs as recognition elements with chemical sensors opens new opportunities for the development of advanced analytical devices with improved selectivity and sensitivity, shorter analysis time, and lower cost. Recently, MMIPs-chemical sensors (MMIPs-CS) have made significant progress in detection, but many challenges and development spaces remain. Therefore, this review focuses on the research progress of the sensor based on biomarker detection and introduces the surface modification of the magnetic support material used to prepare high selective MMIPs, as well as the selective extraction of target biomarkers by MMIPs from the complex biological sample matrix. Based on the understanding of optical sensors and electrochemical sensors, the applications of MMIPs-optical sensors (MMIPs-OS) and MMIPs-electrochemical sensors (MMIPs-ECS) for biomarker detection were reviewed and discussed in detail. Moreover, it provides an overview of the challenges in this research area and the potential strategies for the rational design of high-performance MMIPs-CS, accelerating the development of multifunctional MMIPs-CS.

Novel electrochemical sensor modified with molecularly imprinted polymers for determination of enrofloxacin in marine environment

Molecularly imprinted polymers were synthesized by gel-sol method with multi-walled carbon nanotubes as support and enrofloxacin as a template and further modified on the surface of glassy carbon electrode to construct a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor. The performance of the imprinted electrochemical sensor was thoroughly investigated by using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. The influence of imprinted polymers amount, electrolyte pH, and incubation time on the sensor performance was investigated for the detection of enrofloxacin. Under the optimal experimental conditions in a three-electrode system with the modified electrode as the working electrode the differential pulse voltammetry response current of the sensor had a good linear relationship at 0.2 V (vs. saturated calomel reference electrode) with the enrofloxacin concentration within 2.8 pM-28 μM and the limit of detection of the method was 0.9 pM. The competitive interference experiment showed that the imprinted electrochemical sensor could selectively recognize enrofloxacin. The method was applied to analyze spiked natural seawater, fish, and shrimp samples. The recovery was 96.4%-102%, and RSD was less than 4.3% (n = 3), indicating that the proposed imprinted electrochemical sensor was suitable for the determination of trace enrofloxacin in marine environment samples.

Magnetic-molecularly imprinted polymers in electrochemical sensors and biosensors

Magnetic particles, as well as molecularly imprinted polymers, have revolutionized separation and bioanalytical methodologies in the 1980s due to their wide range of applications. Today, biologically modified magnetic particles are used in many scientific and technological applications and are integrated in more than 50,000 diagnostic instruments for the detection of a huge range of analytes. However, the main drawback of this material is their stability and high cost. In this work, we review recent advances in the synthesis and characterization of hybrid molecularly imprinted polymers with magnetic properties, as a cheaper and robust alternative for the well-known biologically modified magnetic particles. The main advantages of these materials are, besides the magnetic properties, the possibility to be stored at room temperature without any loss in the activity. Among all the applications, this work reviews the direct detection of electroactive analytes based on the preconcentration by using magnetic-MIP integrated on magneto-actuated electrodes, including food safety, environmental monitoring, and clinical and pharmaceutical analysis. The main features of these electrochemical sensors, including their analytical performance, are summarized. This simple and rapid method will open the way to incorporate this material in different magneto-actuated devices with no need for extensive sample pretreatment and sophisticated instruments.

Biosensing platform on ferrite magnetic nanoparticles: Synthesis, functionalization, mechanism and applications

Ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (FMNPs) are gaining popularity to design biosensors for high-performance clinical diagnosis. The fusion of information shows that FMNPs based biosensors require well-tuned FMNPs as detection probes to produce large and specific biological signals with minimal non-specific binding. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable lacuna of information to solve the issues related to suitable synthesis route, particle size reduction, functionalization, sensitivity towards targeted intercellular biological tiny particles, and lower signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore it allows exploring unique characteristics of FMNPs to design a suitable sensing device for intracellular measurements and diseases detection. This review focuses on the extensively used synthesis routes, their advantages and limitations, crystalline structure, functionalization, along with recent applications of FMNPs in biosensors, taking into consideration their analytical figures of merit and range of linearity. This work also addresses the current progress, key factors for sensitivity, selectivity and productivity improvement along with the challenges, future trends and perspectives of FMNPs based biosensors.

Magnetic molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensors: A review

The preparation and practical applications of molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensors (MIECSs) remain challenging due to issues involving electrode surface renewal modes, low adsorption capacities, and sample preparation speeds. To solve these issues, magnetic molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensors (MMIECSs) have been extensively explored by various groups. Recently, MMIECSs fabricated based on diverse strategies have yielded insight into the development of MIECSs, and they have provided effective paths for sample preparation, immobilization and renewal of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) on the electrode surface, leading to promising performances of MIECSs. This review comprehensively describes the research advances for various types of MMIECSs and their applications in the fields of food safety, environmental monitoring, and clinical and pharmaceutical analysis. Based on our understanding of MMIECSs, the literature in this field is thoroughly explored and classified in this review. The challenges existing in this research area and some potential strategies for the rational design of high-performance MMIECS are also outlined.

Direct Immobilization of Biomolecules through Magnetic Forces on Ni Electrodes via Ni Nanoparticles: Applications in Electrochemical Biosensors

The present work describes a new simple procedure for the direct immobilization of biomolecules on Ni electrodes using magnetic Ni nanoparticles (NiNPs) as biomolecule carriers. Ni electrodes were fabricated by electroplating, and NiNPs were chemically synthesized. The chemical composition, crystallinity, and granular size of Ni electrodes, NiNP, and NiNP-modified Ni electrodes (NiNP/Ni) were determined by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical characterization of Ni electrodes by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed the existence of nickel oxides, hydroxides, and oxohydroxide films at the surface of Ni. Magnetic characterization and micromagnetic simulations were performed in order to prove that the magnetic force is responsible for the immobilization process. Further, Ni electrodes were employed as amperometric sensors for the detection of hydrogen peroxide because it is an important performance indicator for a material to be applied in biosensing. The working principle for magnetic immobilization of the enzyme-functionalized NiNP, without the use of external magnetic sources, was demonstrated for glucose oxidase (GOx) as a model enzyme. XPS results enabled to identify the presence of GOx attached to the NiNP (GOx-NiNP) on Ni electrodes. Finally, glucose detection and quantification were evaluated with the newly developed GOx-NiNP/Ni biosensor by amperometry at different potentials, and control experiments at different electrode materials in the presence and absence of NiNP demonstrated their importance in the biosensor architecture.

Molecular Fingerprints of Hemoglobin on a Nanofilm Chip

Hemoglobin is an iron carrying protein in erythrocytes and also an essential element to transfer oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Abnormalities in hemoglobin concentration are closely correlated with health status and many diseases, including thalassemia, anemia, leukemia, heart disease, and excessive loss of blood. Particularly in resource-constrained settings existing blood analyzers are not readily applicable due to the need for high-level instrumentation and skilled personnel, thereby inexpensive, easy-to-use, and reliable detection methods are needed. Herein, a molecular fingerprints of hemoglobin on a nanofilm chip was obtained for real-time, sensitive, and selective hemoglobin detection using a surface plasmon resonance system. Briefly, through the photopolymerization technique, a template (hemoglobin) was imprinted on a monomeric (acrylamide) nanofilm on-chip using a cross-linker (methylenebisacrylamide) and an initiator-activator pair (ammonium persulfate-tetramethylethylenediamine). The molecularly imprinted nanofilm on-chip was characterized by atomic force microscopy and ellipsometry, followed by benchmarking detection performance of hemoglobin concentrations from 0.0005 mg mL⁻¹ to 1.0 mg mL⁻¹. Theoretical calculations and real-time detection implied that the molecularly imprinted nanofilm on-chip was able to detect as little as 0.00035 mg mL⁻¹ of hemoglobin. In addition, the experimental results of hemoglobin detection on the chip well-fitted with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model with high correlation coefficient (0.99) and association and dissociation coefficients (39.1 mL mg⁻¹ and 0.03 mg mL⁻¹) suggesting a monolayer binding characteristic. Assessments on selectivity, reusability and storage stability indicated that the presented chip is an alternative approach to current hemoglobin-targeted assays in low-resource regions, as well as antibody-based detection procedures in the field. In the future, this molecularly imprinted nanofilm on-chip can easily be integrated with portable plasmonic detectors, improving its access to these regions, as well as it can be tailored to detect other proteins and biomarkers.

Recent configurations and progressive uses of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers for drug analysis

Since the introduction of the molecularly imprinting technology (MIT) in the 1970s, it becomes an emerging technology with the potential for wide-ranging applications in drug determination. With the rise of green chemistry, many researchers began to focus on the application and development of green materials which led to the breakthrough of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) in the green chemistry. Because of the low concentration levels in the human matrices, almost adequate analytical methods should be used for quantification of drugs at the trace levels. In recent years there have been reported benefits of combining MIPs with additional features, e.g. magnetic properties, through the build-up of this type of material on magnetite particles. Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) is a new material which is composed of magnetic material and non-magnetic polymer material and shares the characteristics of high adsorption capacity to template molecule, special selective recognition ability, and the magnetic adsorption property. These materials have been widely used in the different fields such as chemical, biological and medical science. This review describes the novel configurations and progressive applications of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers to the drug analysis. Also, the advantages and drawbacks of each methodology, as well as the future expected trends, are evaluated.

Electrochemical sensors based on magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers: A review

Participation of magnetic component in molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) has facilitated enormously the incorporation of these polymeric materials on electrode surfaces allowing the design of electrochemical sensors with very attractive analytical characteristics in terms of simplicity, reproducibility, low fabrication cost, high sensitivity and selectivity and rapid assay time. The magnetically susceptible resultant MIPs (MMIPs) allowed a simple and fast elution of the template molecules from MMIPs, are easily and faster collected without filtration, centrifugation or other complex operations and are also faster assembled and removed from the electrode surface by simply using an external magnetic field. A wide range of different (nano)materials such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), graphene oxide, single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs) as well as different electrode modifiers (ionic liquids (ILs) and surfactants/dispersants) have been incorporated into the MMIPs to improve the analytical performance of the resulting electrochemical sensors which have demonstrated great promise for determination of relevant analytes in environmental, food and clinical analyses.

Electrochemical sensor based on magnetic molecularly imprinted nanoparticles modified magnetic electrode for determination of Hb

A fast and selective electrochemical sensor for determination of hemoglobin (Hb) was developed based on magnetic molecularly imprinted nanoparticles modified on the magnetic glassy carbon electrode. The nanoparticles Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ with a magnetic core and a molecularly imprinted shell had regular structures and good monodispersity. Hb could be determined directly by electrochemical oxidization with the modified electrode. A magnetic field increased electrochemical response to Hb by two times. Imprinting Hb on the surface of Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ shortened the response time within 7min. Under optimum conditions, the imprinting factor toward the non-imprinted sensor was 2.8, and the separation factor of Hb to horseradish peroxidase was 2.6. The oxidation peak current had a linear relationship with Hb concentration ranged from 0.005mg/ml to 0.1mg/ml with a detection limit (S/N =3) of 0.0010mg/ml. The sensors were successfully applied to analysis of Hb in whole blood samples with recoveries between 95.7% and 105%.

Preparation of hemoglobin imprinted polymers based on graphene and protein removal assisted by electric potential

Hemoglobin (Hb) imprinted polymers based on graphene were prepared on the surface of Au electrode and protein removal assisted by electric potential was studied in detail.

Magnetic sensing film based on Fe₃O₄@Au-GSH molecularly imprinted polymers for the electrochemical detection of estradiol

A novel magnetic molecularly imprinted sensing film (MMISF) was fabricated for the determination of estradiol (E2) based on magnetic glassy carbon electrode (MGCE) and magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs). The MMIPs were synthesized by in situ polymerization of glutathione (GSH)-functionalized gold (Au)-coated Fe3O4 (Fe3O4@Au-GSH) nanocomposites and aniline. The MMISF was constructed with MMIPs via a kind of "soft modification" where MMIPs were assembled and immobilized on the surface of MGCE or removed from it by freely installing a magnet into MGCE or not. The E2-MMIPs were obtained by MMIPs recognizing E2 from sample, and the electrochemical detection was carried out after forming the "soft modification" sensing film by putting MGCE into the E2-MMIPs suspension liquid. Afterwards, the "soft modification" MMISF was peeled off from the electrode by removing the magnet from MGCE. The interface of the electrode could be quickly refreshed through simple treatment for the next detection. The structures and morphologies of Fe3O4@Au-GSH, MMIPs and MMISF were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope. In addition, the MMISF was successfully used for detecting E2 in milk powder with good sensitivity, selectivity, reproducibility and efficiency. The linear range of the MMISF for E2 was 0.025-10.0μmolL(-1) with the limit of detection of 2.76nmolL(-1) (S/N= 3).

Order of Activity of Nitrogen, Iron Oxide, and FeNx Complexes towards Oxygen Reduction in Alkaline Medium

In alkaline medium, it seems that both metal-free and iron-containing carbon-based catalysts, such as nitrogen-doped nanocarbon materials, FeOx -doped carbon, and Fe/N/C catalysts, are active for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the order of activity of these different active compositions has not been clearly determined. Herein, we synthesized nitrogen-doped carbon black (NCB), Fe3 O4 /CB, Fe3 O4 /NCB, and FeN4 /CB. Through the systematic study of the ORR catalytic activity of these four catalysts in alkaline solution, we confirmed the difference in the catalytic activity and catalytic mechanism for nitrogen, iron oxides, and Fe-N complexes, respectively. In metal-free NCB, nitrogen can improve the ORR catalytic activity with a four-electron pathway. Fe3 O4 /CB catalyst did not exhibit improved activity over that of NCB owing to the poor conductivity and spinel structure of Fe3 O4 . However, FeN4 coordination compounds as the active sites showed excellent ORR catalytic activity.