Development of Nanomaterial-Modified Impedimetric Aptasensor—A Single-Step Strategy for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine Detection

oleh: Shringika Soni, Utkarsh Jain, Donald H. Burke, Nidhi Chauhan

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-07-01

Deskripsi

Developing rapid, sensitive detection methods for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA) is crucial to reduce its current misuse in the world population. With that aim, we developed an aptamer-modified tin nanoparticle (SnNP)-based nanoarchitecture as an electrochemical sensor in this study. This platform exhibited a high electron transfer rate with enhanced conductivity arising from its large surface area in comparison to the bare electrode. This observation was explained by the 40-fold higher electroactive surface area of SnNPs@Au, which provided a large space for 1.0 μM <i>Apt<sub>MDMA</sub></i> (0.68 ± 0.36 × 10<sup>12</sup> molecule/cm<sup>2</sup>) immobilization and yielded a significant electrochemical response in the presence of MDMA. Furthermore, the <i>Apt<sub>MDMA</sub></i>-modified SnNPs@Au sensing platform proved to be a simple yet ultrasensitive analytical device for MDMA detection in spiked biological and water samples. This novel electrochemical aptasensor showed good linearity in the range of 0.01–1.0 nM for MDMA (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.97) with a limit of detection of 0.33 nM and a sensitivity of 0.54 ohm/nM. In addition, the device showed high accuracy and stability along with signal recoveries in the range of 92–96.7% (Relative Standard Deviation, RSD, 1.1–2.18%). In conclusion, the proposed aptasensor developed here is the first to combine SnNPs and aptamers for illicit compound detection, and it offers a reliable platform for recreational drug detection.