Cooperation of the stereo effect and host–guest interactions towards the electrochemical detection of dopamine

Dopamine (DA) is an important neurotransmitter for the central nervous system related to Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and so on, whose facile detection is in high demand. Combining both stereo and host-guest interactions according to the size and substituents of DA, a Cu-based metal-organic framework (MOF) with a one-dimensional channel was readily designed and applied as a sensor for recognizing DA, demonstrating outstanding electrochemical sensing performance with a wide concentration range (0.5-500 μM) and a low detection limit (0.48 μM) as well as favorable stability, reproducibility, and selectivity. The cooperative effect of the stereo effect and host-guest interactions was clearly verified through both experimental comparison with a similar structure MOF sensor and DFT calculations. Significantly, the newly designed sensor showed satisfactory detection capabilities in practical tests with human sweat samples.