Selective recognition of atropine in biological fluids and leaves of Datura stramonium employing a carbon nanotube–chitosan film based biosensor

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a selective, expeditious and facile electrochemical approach for the ultrasensitive detection of atropine in complex matrices. Herein, a non-destroyable composite of surface decorating single walled carbon nanotubes on a biopolymer chitosan film coated on a glassy carbon electrode has been employed for the first time for the determination of atropine. The biosensor exhibited notable stability and uniformity in the composite film, short response time, exemplary reproducibility and excellent catalytic activity towards the electro oxidation of atropine leading to a significant improvement in response sensitivity. The linearity in the calibration curve for atropine concentration was observed under optimized conditions, in the range from 100 nM–150 μM, with the limits of quantification and detection of 54.9 and 16.5 nM, respectively. A high recognition selectivity was exhibited by the developed biosensor, which was efficaciously applied to determine atropine in commercially available pharmaceuticals. The biosensor was further adequately implemented for the quantification of atropine in media of human serum and urine samples with satisfactory recovery. Additionally, the practical analytical performance of the biosensor was investigated by assessing the selective detection of atropine in the leaves of Datura stramonium.