A Novel Molecular Imprinted Polymethacrylic Acid Decorated Graphite Electrochemical Sensor for Analyzing Metanil Yellow Adulteration in Food
Shreya Nag, Debangana Das, Hemanta Naskar, Bipan Tudu, Rajib Bandyopadhyay, Runu Banerjee Roy
Abstract
This article presents the development of a highly specific and sensitive platform for detecting a toxic food dye called metanil yellow (MY) using the molecular imprinting technique. Methacrylic acid (MAA) polymer compound embedded in graphite was imprinted at the molecular level for the preparation of the sensor material. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), and UV-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy have been utilized to assess the synthesized molecular imprinted polymer (MIP). To evaluate the performance of the electrode, a three-electrode system was employed in combination with differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. The linear range with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.67 nM was observed over the range from 1 nM to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1000 \mu \text{M}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . The MIP sensor also exhibited fast response, high repeatability and reproducibility, long-term stability, and superior selectivity. In comparison with the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis, the MIP electrode showed satisfactory results when used with turmeric powder and pigeon pea samples.