Construction and Application of Molecularly Imprinted Polypyrrole Electrochemical Sensors for Quality Evaluation and Toxicity Monitoring of Aconitine

Abstract

Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fuzi) is the top product of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to restore yang and save the reverse. It has an important position in the field of Chinese medicine. Aconitine (AC) is one of the index components in the quality evaluation of Fuzi, and its improper use can easily cause poisoning. Therefore, constructing a new technique for authenticity testing based on chemical benchmarks is urgent. The method assures the quality and efficacy of Fuzi and its relevant products. It also provides a way to monitor the safe use of Fuzi. Based on this, a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor was prepared by electrochemical polymerization, with pyrrole (Py) as functional monomers, and AC acting as a template on the surface of the N-Gr modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in this study. The high conductivity and large specific surface area of N-Gr provide for high sensitivity of the sensor. Meanwhile, Py can be used to construct molecularly imprinted membranes and template molecular embeds due to its ease of synthesis and biocompatibility. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the sensor exhibits an excellent linear relationship in the concentration range of 5.0×10-1 ~ 1.5×103 μg mL-1, and the detection limit is 5.0×10-2 μg mL-1. The sensor presented high selectivity and sensitivity when used for the detection of AC in real samples, and maintained good stability and reproducibility. Compared to the results of HPLC, its rapid detection, high sensitivity, and low cost make it suitable for large-scale applications. On the one hand, this study realizes the rapid detection of index components for quality evaluation of TCM. On the other hand, it also provides an efficient and reliable detection method for the detection of plasma concentration in the application of toxicogenic TCM and the safe use of medicine.

Keywords: Aconitine, Molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensors, Quality evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine, Toxicogenic, Accurate rapid detection