Trace-level sensing of dopamine in real samples using molecularly imprinted polymer-sensor

Induced-fit responsive dopamine (DA) imprinted polymer, poly (melamine-co-chloranil), was used as a suitable coating material for the modification of a hanging mercury drop electrode. The zwitterionic conformation of the imprinted polymer responded differential pulse, cathodic stripping voltammetric current, without any false-positive or false-negative contributions of non-specific sorptions, in aqueous environment of complex matrices. The limit of detection (3σ) of dopamine was found to be as low as 0.148 ng mL−1, by the proposed sensor that could be considered a sensitive marker of dopamine depletion in Parkinson's disease (PD).