Fabrication of a new electrochemical sensor based on a new nano-molecularly imprinted polymer for highly selective and sensitive determination of tramadol in human urine samples

A new nano-molecularly imprinted polymer bead was synthesized and applied to the fabrication of a chemically modified carbon paste electrode. Nano-molecularly imprinted polymer with molecular recognition capacity was made-up by using SiO2@Fe3O4 as the core and the supporting material. The electrode was applied to the simple, rapid, highly selective and sensitive determination of tramadol using square wave voltammetry. The molecularly imprinted polymer and multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified carbon paste electrode was prepared by incorporating the synthesized nano-MIP and multi-walled carbon nanotubes in carbon paste electrode. The limit of detection and the linear range were found to be 0.004 and 0.01 to 20 mu mol L-1 of tramadol, respectively. The effects of potentially interfering substances on the determination of this compound were investigated. And it was found that the electrode is highly selective. The proposed chemically modified carbon paste electrode was used for the determination of tramadol in infected and healthy human urine and pharmaceutical samples. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.