Rational Design of Selective Electrochemical Sensor for Dexketoprofen Determination in Human Plasma: Application based on Molecularly Imprinted Co-Polymer

A simple, repeatable, and inexpensive molecularly imprinted co-polymer (MIP) sensor was fabricated for Dexketoprofen (DKP) determination. One-step electro-polymerization of levodopa (L-dopa) and o -phenylenediamine ( o PD) functional monomers onto a pencil graphite electrode (PGE) with DKP as a template molecule has been developed to fabricate Dexketoprofen PGE/MIP (L-Dopa- co - o PD) sensor. Choice of functional monomers was guided by UV-spectrophotometric method to examine the binding interactions between the template and monomers. The fabricated PGE/MIP (L-Dopa- co - o PD) sensor was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. By employing differential pulse voltammetry, quantitative measurements of DKP were obtained by measuring the decline of the redox probe signal (ferrocyanide/ferricyanide) in presence of the drug. The results revealed a consistent voltammetric response with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998 with LOD and LOQ to be 4.0 × 10 −15 M and 1.2 × 10 −4 M, respectively, over a dynamic linearity range of 1.0 × 10 −12 M to 1.0 × 10 −14 M of DKP. The sensor exhibited great selectivity for the DKP over structurally related and concurrently delivered drugs allowing its application in its pharmaceutical dosage form and in human plasma samples. The proposed technique was assessed by white analytical chemistry via RGB model showing affordable, environmentally friendly, robust, effective, and sustainable analysis of drug samples.