Construction of an ultrasensitive dual-mode chiral molecules sensing platform based on molecularly imprinted polymer modified bipolar electrode

Chiral molecules are abundant in nature. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is caused by the abnormal transformation of chiral molecules L-phenylalanine (L-Phe) in the human blood, which can cause irreversible harm to the human body. In this work, we documented an electrochemiluminescent (ECL) dual-mode sensor platform based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) modified closed bipolar electrodes for high sensitivity detection of L-Phe and D-phenylalanine (D-Phe). In the anode chamber of a bipolar electrode modified with phenylalanine imprinting, Ru (bpy)32+ underwent a redox reaction to produce a chemiluminescence response under the stimulation of a driving voltage. At the same time, the reduction of the cathode film of the bipolar electrode was promoted, and the color changed from dark blue to nearly white. Thus, the dual-mode detection of target molecules is realized. The detection range of the sensor for phenylalanine reached 0.01-10,000 nM, and the detection limits of L-Phe and D-Phe were 3.9 pM and 4.6 pM (S/N = 3), respectively. This dual-mode system achieved high stability and high specificity, and also successfully realized the detection of actual samples, which is expected to achieve future clinical applications.

Automated summary

In this work, an electrochemiluminescent dual-mode sensor platform based on molecularly imprinted polymer modified closed bipolar electrodes was developed for high sensitivity detection of L-phenylalanine and D-phenylalanine. The sensor achieved dual-mode detection of the target molecules with high stability and specificity, and successfully detected actual samples.