Sensitive determination of chlorogenic acid in pharmaceutical products based on the decoration of 3D macroporous carbon with Au nanoparticles via polyoxometalates.

A simple and sensitive electrochemical sensor is constructed for the detection of chlorogenic acid (CGA) based on Au nanoparticles (NPs)/polyoxometalates/3D macroporous carbon (Au-POMs-MPC). Serving as both a reducing and stabilizing agent, the Keggin-type POM, H3PW12O40, is used for the synthesis of stable colloidal Au NPs and then used to link them to MPC at a mild temperature. Because of the unique structural properties and synergetic catalytic effect, Au-POMs-MPC can be developed as an effective sensing platform for the detection of CGA, which showed high activity and excellent analytical performance towards CGA, such as a wide linear range of 2.28 nM-3.24 μM, a high sensitivity of 30 554.71 μA mM-1, and a low limit of detection of 2.15 nM. Importantly, the successfully fabricated Au-POMs-MPC device accurately measured the amount of CGA in pharmaceutical samples.