Chianella I, Piletsky S A, Tothill I E, Chen B, Turner A P F
Institute of BioScience and Technology, Cranfield University at Silsoe, Silsoe, Bedfordshire MK45 4DT, UK.
Biosens Bioelectron. 2003 Mar;18(2-3):119-27. doi: 10.1016/s0956-5663(02)00165-3.
Microsystin-LR is one of the most widespread and dangerous toxins produced by the freshwater Cyanobacteria. The contamination of water supplies with microcystin-LR has been reported in several areas around the world and the development of an easy-to-use, rapid, robust and inexpensive sensor for this toxin is urgently required. In this work an artificial receptor for microcystin-LR was synthesised using the technique of molecular imprinting. The composition of the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was optimised using computer modelling. The synthesised polymer was used both as a material for solid-phase extraction (SPE) and as a sensing element in a piezoelectric sensor. Using the combination of SPE followed by detection with a piezoelectric sensor the minimum detectable amount of toxin was 0.35 nM. The use of MIP-SPE provided up to 1000 fold pre-concentration, which was more than sufficient for achieving the required detection limit for microcystin-LR in drinking water (1 nM). This work is the first example where the same MIP receptor has been used successfully for both SPE and the corresponding sensor.
