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Electrochemical Nanosensors for Analysis of Pharmaceuticals

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 March 2022) | Viewed by 6541

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, A. Kovacica 1, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: pharmaceutical analysis; electroanalytical methods; nanosensors; modified electrodes; capillary electrophoresis; chromatography; bioactive compounds

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The development of novel electrochemical nanosensors and associated sensing approaches is one of the most captivating topics in modern pharmaceutical analysis. Different nanomaterials offer almost unlimited possibilities for new sensor platform designs to address the growing needs for enhanced sensitivity, selectivity, rapid response, reliable measuring in untreated samples, on-site testing, and miniaturization of sensing elements. Electrochemical nanosensors cover a large domain of investigation in pharmaceutical analysis ranging from the determination of active pharmaceutical ingredients in pharmaceutical dosage forms ensuring safety, efficacy, and high quality of medicines, as well as in biological samples to obtain effective therapy and prevent overdose-induced toxicity. The monitoring of therapeutic drug concentration is a critical subject in clinical and pharmacokinetic studies and important component of personalized medicine. Furthermore, electrochemical nanosensors can be used at the early stage of drug research to screen the activity of newly synthesized molecules due to correlations noted between redox potential and pharmacological activity. Electron transfer reactions play an important role in understanding the mechanism of action of various drugs and can serve as a useful tool in the design of more active and safer pharmaceuticals. The knowlage of redox properties of drugs can give insights into their metabolic fate or in vivo redox processes. Nanomaterial-based sensors have applications in drug–protein binding and drug–DNA interaction studies, giving results which are useful in drug bioavailability and toxicity tests.

Electrochemical nanosensors are a rapidly growing research area in pharmaceutical sciences. Nanomaterials such as nanotubes, nanofibers, nanowires, nanoparticles, quantum dots, fullerene, graphene, and nanodiamonds have recently found a wide range of interesting pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. They are very attractive in the field of sensor development due to their unique characteristics and advantageous properties for electroanalysis, such as enhanced electronic properties, high electrical conductivity, excellent chemical stability, and high surface-to-volume ratio. To improve the selectivity of nanomaterials to target drug molecules as well as their adsorption capacity related to enhanced sensitivity, various functionalization strategies can be applied for the fabrication of novel sensors. Electrochemical nanosensors have lower detection limits for pharmaceuticals, excellent electrocatalytic properties, good reproducibility, and limited access of interferences in a complex samples when compared with other sensors.

The aim of this Special Issue is to publish original research articles and reviews that cover recent advances in the application of electrochemical nanosensors for investigation and analysis of pharmaceuticals and pharmacologically active molecules.

Prof. Dr. Biljana Nigovic
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • carbon nanotubes
  • graphene
  • nanoparticles
  • nanocomposites
  • electrochemical sensor design
  • electroanalysis
  • pharmaceutical analysis
  • biomedical applications
  • biological samples

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2149 KiB  
Article
Development of an Electrochemical Sensor Using a Modified Carbon Paste Electrode with Silver Nanoparticles Capped with Saffron for Monitoring Mephedrone
by Georgios Christos Papaioannou, Sophia Karastogianni and Stella Girousi
Sensors 2022, 22(4), 1625; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041625 - 18 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2623
Abstract
Mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone, is growing into a prominent recreational drug for young people. When it came to detecting mephedrone, limited efforts were made using electrochemical sensors. As a result, this application depicts the fabrication of a new, sensitive, selective, and economical [...] Read more.
Mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone, is growing into a prominent recreational drug for young people. When it came to detecting mephedrone, limited efforts were made using electrochemical sensors. As a result, this application depicts the fabrication of a new, sensitive, selective, and economical electrochemical sensor capable of detecting mephedrone by using silver nanoparticles capped with saffron produced through electropolymerization to modify carbon paste electrodes (CPEs). Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were capped with saffron (AgNPs@Sa) using a green method. AgNPs@Sa were studied using electron scanning microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis spectroscopy. The sensor was evaluated under the optimum condition to determine its analytical features. The results showed that this procedure had a wide linear range, low detection limit and sufficient reproducibility. Furthermore, the sensor posed sufficient stability. Moreover, it was applied in the determination of mephedrone in urine samples, showing the potential applicability of this electrochemical sensor in real sample analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrochemical Nanosensors for Analysis of Pharmaceuticals)
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14 pages, 2588 KiB  
Article
Hybrid Nanocomposite Platform, Based on Carbon Nanotubes and Poly(Methylene Blue) Redox Polymer Synthesized in Ethaline Deep Eutectic Solvent for Electrochemical Determination of 5-Aminosalicylic Acid
by Oana Hosu, Madalina M. Barsan, Robert Săndulescu, Cecilia Cristea and Christopher M. A. Brett
Sensors 2021, 21(4), 1161; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21041161 - 7 Feb 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3248
Abstract
A novel hybrid composite of conductive poly(methylene blue) (PMB) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) was prepared for the detection of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA). Electrosynthesis of PMB with glassy carbon electrode (GCE) or with carbon nanotube modified GCE was done in ethaline deep eutectic solvent [...] Read more.
A novel hybrid composite of conductive poly(methylene blue) (PMB) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) was prepared for the detection of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA). Electrosynthesis of PMB with glassy carbon electrode (GCE) or with carbon nanotube modified GCE was done in ethaline deep eutectic solvent of choline chloride mixed with ethylene glycol and a 10% v/v aqueous solution. Different sensor architectures were evaluated in a broad range of pH values in a Britton-Robinson (BR) buffer using electrochemical techniques, chronoamperometry (CA), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), to determine the optimum sensor configuration for 5-ASA sensing. Under optimal conditions, the best analytical performance was obtained with CNT/PMBDES/GCE in 0.04 M BR buffer pH 7.0 in the range 5–100 µM 5-ASA using the DPV method, with an excellent sensitivity of 9.84 μA cm−2 μM−1 (4.9 % RSD, n = 5) and a detection limit (LOD) (3σ/slope) of 7.7 nM, outclassing most similar sensors found in the literature. The sensitivity of the same sensor obtained in CA (1.33 μA cm−2 μM−1) under optimal conditions (pH 7.0, Eapp = +0.40 V) was lower than that obtained by DPV. Simultaneous detection of 5-ASA and its analogue, acetaminophen (APAP), was successfully realized, showing a catalytic effect towards the electro-oxidation of both analytes, lowering their oxidation overpotential, and enhancing the oxidation peak currents and peak-to-peak separation as compared with the unmodified electrode. The proposed method is simple, sensitive, easy to apply, and economical for routine analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electrochemical Nanosensors for Analysis of Pharmaceuticals)
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