Synthesis by precipitation polymerization of a molecularly imprinted polymer membrane for the potentiometric determination of sertraline in tablets and biological fluids

Masoumeh Hashemi,Majid Arvand

doi:10.1590/s0103-50532012000300004

Abstract

A potentiometric chemosensor for selective determination of sertraline was developed based on the molecular imprinting technique. The molecularly imprinted polymer was synthesized by precipitation polymerization, using sertraline hydrochloride as a template molecule, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linking agent. The sensor was developed by dispersing the sertraline imprinted polymer particles in dibutyl sebacate plasticizer and embedding in poly(vinyl chloride) matrix. Characteristics of the proposed sensor were evaluated by measuring the potential response to sertraline hydrochloride in the range from 1.0 µmol L-1 to 10 mmol L-1 with a near Nernstian response of 57.7 mV decade-1 and a limit of detection of 0.8 µmol L-1. The potentiometric selectivity coefficients of the proposed sensor were evaluated and it exhibited good selectivity to sertraline with respect to the other antidepressants. It was used as indicator electrode in potentiometric determination of sertraline in tablets and biological fluids.

Highlights

Molecular imprinting is an emerging technology which enables us to synthesize the materials with highly specific receptor sites towards the target molecules
Different aspects of the membrane preparation using sertraline imprinted polymer particles were optimized on similar lines
When the Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) is introduced to an aqueous solution containing the target molecule, the template equilibrium partition between the polymer and the aqueous solution occurs

Summary

Introduction

Molecular imprinting is an emerging technology which enables us to synthesize the materials with highly specific receptor sites towards the target molecules. Potentiometric technique is well-known versatile, simple, rapid and inexpensive method for determination of target ion (molecule) Potentiometric technique is another approach to electrochemical transduction of ion selective sensors based on MIP. Despite the relatively simple transduction of the potentiometric signal, only limited reports on the design of the potentiometric sensors have been based on the molecular imprinting technology These reports describe the dispersion of the MIP particles in the plasticizer and their embedment in a polyvinylchloride (PVC) matrix,[18,19,20,21] the formation of a glassy membrane,[22] the template assembly on the polar surface of the indium tin oxide (ITO) glass plate[23,24] and the deposition of an MIP polymeric film on the gate surface of an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor.[25,26]. Urine was collected from healthy volunteers (males, around 30 years old)

Procedures

Results and Discussion

H O OH Cl HO

Conclusions