A novel N-Gr/polypyrrole(Ppy)-based molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor for quality evaluation and toxicity monitoring of aconitine

Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fuzi) is the lateral root of Aconitum carmichaeli Debeaux that belongs to the Ranunculaceae family. Fuzi is the top product of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to restore yang and save the reverse. It has an important position in the field of Chinese medicine. Aconitine (AC) is one of the index components in the quality evaluation of Fuzi, and its improper use can easily cause poisoning. Therefore, constructing a new technique for authenticity testing based on chemical benchmarks is urgent. Based on this, a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor was prepared by electrochemical polymerization, with pyrrole (py) as functional monomers and AC acting as a template on the surface of the Nitrogen-doped graphene (N-Gr)-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in this study. The high conductivity and large specific surface area of N-Gr provide for high sensitivity of the sensor. Meanwhile, polypyrrole can be used as a functional monomer for the construction of molecularly imprinted membranes due to its simple preparation and good controllability. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the sensor exhibits an excellent linear relationship in the concentration range of 5.0 x 10(-1) similar to 1.5 x 10(3) mu g mL(-1), and the detection limit is 5.0 x 10(-2) mu g mL(-1). The sensor presented high selectivity and sensitivity when used for the detection of AC in real samples and maintained good stability and reproducibility. Compared to the results of HPLC, its rapid detection, high sensitivity, and low cost make it suitable for large-scale applications. On the one hand, this study realizes the rapid detection of index components for quality evaluation of TCM. On the other hand, it also provides an efficient and reliable detection method for detecting plasma concentration in the application of toxicogenic TCM and the safe use of medicine.