A highly selective electrochemical sensor for l‐tryptophan based on a screen‐printed carbon electrode modified with poly‐p‐phenylenediamine and CdS quantum dots

ABSTRACT A new highly selective electrochemical sensor for the determination of l ‐tryptophan was proposed by modifying the surface of screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). The surface of SPCE was firstly modified by electropolymerization of p ‐phenylenediamine (PPD). The polymer film was then covalently linked with cysteamine capped cadmium sulfide quantum dots (Cys‐CdS QDs) by using glutaraldehyde (GA) as a cross‐linker resulted in an organic–inorganic hybrid composite film (QDs/GA/PPD/SPCE). The modified electrode was applied as a working electrode for detecting various amino acids. It was found that the modified electrode gave an electrochemical response selectively to l ‐tryptophan over other amino acids. The experimental parameters, including pH of solution, buffer types, electropolymerization cycles, scan rate, and accumulation time, were studied and optimized. The proposed sensor can be used to detect l ‐tryptophan with a low detection limit of 14.74 µmol L −1 with good precision and the relative standard deviation less than 3.7%. The modified electrode was used to detect l ‐tryptophan in beverage samples and gave satisfactory recoveries from 91.9 to 104.9%. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 40356.