Polystyrene/poly(dibenzo-18-crown-6) composite nanofibers for the selective adsorption of plasma catecholamines

Abstract

In this paper, 10 types of electrospun polystyrene (PS) nanofibers doped with poly(dibenzo-18-crown-6) (PDB18C6) were prepared and the ones which gave the best recovery of catecholamines – dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine from other interfering endogenous substances existing in the plasma matrix based on a previous study were selected. Furthermore, 10 types of composite nanofibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM results showed that the addition of PDB18C6 resulted in thicker nanofibers with rough surfaces. Furthermore, it was found that increases in the proportion of PS used led to higher mean fiber diameters (200 to 3000 nm). Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the optimal composite nanofibers, which act as an adsorbent for selective extraction of catecholamines. At pH 7.5, composite nanofibers No. 10 (20% PS–5% PDB18C6 = 5 : 2, v/v) can improve the extraction efficiency of the catecholamines in plasma with high reproducibility. In comparison with discrete crown ether modified nanofibers, the PDB18C6 functionalized nanofibers offered a polymer backbone to solve the problem of solubility in most solvents for crown ether monomers. Therefore, PDB18C6 functionalized nanofibers increased the complexing properties more than crown ether monomers. Furthermore, electrospinning was shown to be a very versatile tool to prepare PDB18C6 functional polymer adsorbents for the selective recovery of plasma catecholamines.