Novel designed electrochemical sensor for simultaneous determination of linezolid and meropenem pneumonia drugs

Abstract

• Layer by layer method is applied to fabricate GC/Gr/CNT-HQ/Fe-Ni sensor for electrochemical determination of LN and ME in human blood serum. • Practically determination of LN and ME in human serum is successfully accomplished in a wide concentration ranges with low detection limits of 0.97 nM and 1.3 nM respectively. • The sensor can efficiently be used for concurrent determination of three antibiotic drugs namely LN, ME, and TH in human serum. • Excellent interference resistance, good reproducibility and perfect storage stability are the features of the GC/Gr/CNT-HQ/Fe-Ni sensor. Treatment of pneumonia by only one antibiotic drug is difficult due to the involvement of several microorganisms in pneumonia disease as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Klebsiella. Thus introducing another antibiotic drug meropenem (ME) beside the linezolid (LN) are usually used for treatment of pneumonia cases. Layer by layer method is applied to fabricate sensor for electrochemical determination of LN and ME in human blood serum. A glassy carbon surface (GC) is modified with a thin layer of graphene (Gr) followed by casting two consecutive thin layers of carbon nanotubes- hydroquinone mixture (CNT-HQ) and Fe-Ni alloy nanoparticles; GC/Gr/CNT-HQ/Fe-Ni. The current signals enhancement is due to the synergism of all the sensor components. Voltammetry determination of LN and ME in human serum is successfully accomplished in the concentration ranges (0.007–12 µM) and (0.01–12 µM) with low detection limits of 0.97 nM and 1.3 nM, respectively. Also, the sensor can efficiently be used for concurrent determination of three antibiotic drugs namely LN, ME and theophylline (TH) in human serum. The GC/Gr/CNT-HQ/Fe-Ni sensor is practically used in human serum samples for LN and ME determination with satisfactory recoveries, outstanding interference resistance and good stability.