Highly selective and sensitive molecularly imprinted sensors for the electrochemical assay of quercetin in methanol extracts of Rubus sanctus and Fragaria vesca.

Quercetin (QUE) is a powerful antioxidant and one of the common phenolic compounds found in plants, vegetables, and fruits, which has shown many pharmacological activities. The complex nature of the matrix in which QUE is found and its importance and potential uses in diverse applications force the researchers to develop selective and sensitive sensors. In the present work, a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based electrochemical sensor was fabricated for the selective and sensitive determination of the QUE in plant extracts and food supplements. Tryptophan methacrylate (TrpMA) was chosen as the functional monomer, whereas the photopolymerization (PP) method was applied using a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Electrochemical and morphological characterizations of the developed sensor (TrpMA@QUE/MIP-GCE) were performed using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The linear range of the developed sensor was determined to be in the range of 1.0-25 pM, while the limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.235 pM. In conclusion, The TrpMA@QUE/MIP-GCE sensor might be classified as a promising platform for selective and sensitive determination of QUE not only in plant extracts but also in commercial food supplements because of its reliability, reproducibility, repeatability, stability, and fast response time.

A novel electrochemical sensor based on a molecularly imprinted polymer for highly selective and sensitive determination of rutin from herbal supplements and plant extracts.

Rutin (RUT), a natural flavonoid with various beneficial pharmacological actions such as cardioprotective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, etc., is found in the content of many plants that are consumed daily. Due to the healthful effects, RUT is also included in the composition of various herbal supplement samples. Therefore, it is highly important to develop a sensor with high selectivity and sensitivity to determine RUT in complex samples. In this study, it was aimed to take advantage of the cheap, easy, and sensitive nature of electrochemistry and, in addition, to improve the selectivity. For this purpose, the functional monomer selected in the fabricated molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was N-methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid (MA-Asp) while photopolymerization (PP) was applied as the polymerization route. After completing critical optimization steps, the developed sensor (MA-Asp@RUT/MIP-GCE) was characterized electrochemically and morphologically. As a result of analytical performance evaluation in standard solution, the linear response of the sensor was found in the concentration range between 1 and 10 pM with a detection limit of 0.269 pM. The recovery studies from plant extract and commercial herbal supplement samples emphasized accuracy and applicability. In imprinting factor studies figuring out quite good selectivity, molecules with a structure similar to RUT were selected as competitors to prove the affinity of the sensor against RUT. Consequently, the MA-Asp@RUT/MIP-GCE sensor offers a more sensitive and selective method thanks to its indirect analysis approach and also stands out with the diversity of its real sample application compared to other available studies.