Electrochemical grafting of long spacer arms of hexamethyldiamine on a screen printed carbon electrode surface: application in target induced ochratoxin A electrochemical aptasensor.

A novel strategy based on direct electrochemistry of amino group on screen printed carbon electrode surface (SPCE) was purposed. The purposed method was employed for the label free detection of ochratoxin A (OTA). A long spacer arm of hexamethyldiamine was immobilized on SPCE via electrochemical oxidation of its terminal amino-group. The activated carboxy-aptamer was covalently linked to other amino terminal group of immobilized hexamethyldiamine. The designed immobilized macromolecules resulted in the formation of long clusters on SPCE surface, while aptamer acted as gate to block the entrance of these clusters. The aptamer gates were closed due to change in conformation of aptamer upon target analyte binding, decreasing the electrochemical signal. The decrease in electrochemical signal was used for the detection of target molecule.