Nonhydrolytic sol-gel derived imprinted polymer-multiwalled carbon nanotubes composite fiber sensors for electrochemical sensing of uracil and 5-fluorouracil

Abstract

The present work describes an exciting method for the generation of stable silica-molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) composite fibers, via a non-hydrolytic sol-gel simple route, using carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The modified MIP-composite fibers were used as an electrochemical sensor for the selective and sensitive analysis of ultra-trace level of 5-fluorouracil and uracil in aqueous, blood plasma, and pharmaceutical samples. Such sensors could be considered cost-effective, renewable, disposable, and reliable for in-field and clinical studies, without any cross-reactivity and matrix effect from real samples [limit of detection (3σ, aqueous solution); 1.30ngmL-1, 5-fluorouracil and 0.56ngmL-1, uracil]. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.