New biomimetic sensors for the determination of tetracycline in biological samples: Batch and flow mode operations

Abstract

New potentiometric membrane sensors with cylindrical configuration for tetracycline (TC) are described based on the use of a newly designed molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) material consisting of 2-vinylpyridine as a functional monomer in a plasticized PVC membrane. The sensor exhibited significantly enhanced response towards TC over the concentration range 1.59 × 10⁻⁵–1.0 × 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹ at pH 3–5 with a lower detection limit of 1.29 × 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹. The response was near-Nernstian, with average slopes of 63.9 mV decade⁻¹. The effect of lipophilic salts and various foreign common ions were tested and were found to be negligible. The possibility of applying the proposed sensor to TC determination in spiked biological fluid samples was demonstrated.