Molecularly imprinted poly(4-amino-5-hydroxy-2,7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid) modified glassy carbon electrode as an electrochemical theophylline sensor.

Theophylline is an inexpensive drug employed in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder medications and is toxic at higher concentration. The development of a molecularly imprinted polymer based theophylline electrochemical sensor on glassy carbon electrode by the electropolymerization of 4-amino-5-hydroxy-2,7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid is being discussed in this work. The MIP modification enhances the theophylline recognition ability and the electron transfer kinetics of the bare electrode. The parameters, controlling the performance of the imprinted polymer based sensor, like number of electropolymerization cycles, composition of the pre-polymerization mixture, pH and immersion time were investigated and optimized. The interaction energy and the most stable conformation of the template-monomer complex in the pre-polymerization mixture were determined computationally using ab initio calculations based on density functional theory. The amperometric measurements showed that the developed sensor has a method detection limit of 0.32μM for the dynamic range of 0.4 to 17μM, at optimized conditions. The transducer possesses appreciable selectivity in the presence of structurally similar interferents such as theobromine, caffeine and doxofylline. The developed sensor showed remarkable stability and reproducibility and was also successfully employed in theophylline detection from commercially available tablets.