Fabrication of an electrochemical sensor based on molecular imprinting technology for detecting elemene

This paper presents the fabrication of an electrochemical sensor based on molecular imprinting technology for the detection of elemene, a bioactive compound with various pharmacological activities. The sensor was prepared by electrochemically polymerizing acrylamide and N,N-methylenebisacrylamide in the presence of dopamine hydrochloride and phytic acid as functional monomers, with elemene as the template molecule. The resulting molecularly imprinted polymer film on the glassy carbon electrode exhibited specific recognition sites for elemene. The sensor's electrochemical performance was systematically investigated using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The sensor showed excellent selectivity, sensitivity, stability, and reproducibility for elemene detection. The optimized sensor parameters, such as the number of polymerization cycles and elution time, were determined. The sensor exhibited a linear response to elemene in the concentration ranges of 10 μM to 0.1 mM and 50 nM to 10 μM, with a detection limit of 2.7 nM. The proposed electrochemical sensor offers a rapid, label-free, and selective detection platform for elemene, eliminating the need for complex sample preparation and expensive labeling reagents. It has the potential for application in quality control, safety assessment, and therapeutic efficacy evaluation of elemene-containing products.