Space-confined synthesis of ordered mesoporous carbon doped with single-layer MoS-boron for the voltammetric determination of theophylline.

A space-confined synthesis method is employed for the preparation of a single-layer MoS-boron doped ordered mesoporous carbon nanocomposite. A phenol-formaldehyde resin is used as carbon source to create a confined space for the formation of single-layer MoS. The addition of pluronic F127, as a soft template, suppresses the stacking of MoS layers and makes the composite porous. The nanocomposite is characterized by scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The single-layer MoS sheets have a lateral size of about 5 nm and are uniformly embedded in the composite. They possess numerous active edge sites and display a strong synergistic effect with other components. The composite is modified on a glassy carbon electrode, followed by the electrochemical imprinting of theophylline, and the resulting electrode exhibits good electrochemical response to theophylline. The linear response range is 0.01-250 μM by differential pulse voltammetry, and the lower detection limit is 5 nM. It has been successfully applied to the determination of theophylline in spiked tea drink samples. Graphical abstract Single-layer MoS-boron doped ordered mesoporous carbon nanocomposite has large surface area and high catalysis, when coupling with molecularly imprinted polymer the resulting electrode shows highly sensitive and selective response to theophylline.