Abstract

This paper reports the improvement of a bitterness sensor based on a lipid polymer membrane consisting of phosphoric acid di-n-decyl ester (PADE) as a lipid and bis(1-butylpentyl) adipate (BBPA) and tributyl o-acetylcitrate (TBAC) as plasticizers. Although the commercialized bitterness sensor (BT0) has high sensitivity and selectivity to the bitterness of medicines, the sensor response gradually decreases to almost zero after two years at room temperature and humidity in a laboratory. To reveal the reason for the deterioration of the response, we investigated sensor membranes by measuring the membrane potential, contact angle, and adsorption amount, as well as by performing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We found that the change in the surface charge density caused by the hydrolysis of TBAC led to the deterioration of the response. The acidic environment generated by PADE promoted TBAC hydrolysis. Finally, we succeeded in fabricating a new membrane for sensing the bitterness of medicines with higher durability and sensitivity by adjusting the proportions of the lipid and plasticizers.

Highlights

  • It is sometimes said that good medicine always tastes bitter

  • We demonstrated that increasing phosphoric acid di-n-decyl ester (PADE) greatly accelerates the deterioration of the response by creating an acidic environment that induces tributyl o-acetylcitrate (TBAC) hydrolysis

  • After the accelerated deterioration process, we examined the responses of the sensors using these 20 membranes by measuring 0.1 mM quinine hydrochloride

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Summary

Introduction

It is sometimes said that good medicine always tastes bitter. This concept has been reversed with the development of several bitterness-masking techniques. With the quality of life (QOL) of patients attracting increasing attention, especially for pediatric and geriatric patients [1], before marketing an oral bitter medicine, panelists have to take the medicine and evaluate its taste intensity. Such tests have problems, such as low objectivity and reproducibility, as well as the potential impact of side effects from the medicine.

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