Abdullaeva Cam, Alyamni Nadiah, Jessen-Hegelbach Jackie, Zestos Alexander G
Department of Chemistry, American University, Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 4400, United States of America.
Nanotechnology. 2025 Jan 8;36(10). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ada299.
A phenol contains a six-membered, conjugated, aromatic ring bound to a hydroxyl group. These molecules are important in biomedical studies, aromatic food preparation, and petroleum engineering. Traditionally, phenols have been measured with several analytical techniques such as UV-VIS spectroscopy, fluorescence, liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry. These assays provide for relatively high sensitivity and selectivity measurements, but they suffer from relatively low spatiotemporal resolution, low biocompatibility, long analysis time, high cost, and complex sample treatment. Recently, electrochemistry has served as a viable alternative to the measurement of phenols. In this study, we utilized carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs) with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry for the sensitive and selective measurement of phenols. We tested four common phenolic compounds: phenol, 2-methylaminophenol (2-MAP), 4-methylaminophenol (4-MAP), and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (3-HBA). We found that phenol, 2-MAP, 4-MAP, and 3-HBA were all partially adsorption and diffusion controlled to the surface of the CFMEs and that all four molecules could be detected with repeated injections. Structural differences led to varied sensitivities amongst the four phenols, and we were able to co-detect and differentiate the phenols in complex solutions with dopamine and serotonin. Lastly, we measured the phenols in simulated urine with a high percent recovery. These assays demonstrate enhanced electrochemical measurement of phenols, which will create more effective diagnostics for these complex molecules to help elucidate their mechanistic properties and ultimate significance in a biological context.
苯酚含有一个与羟基相连的六元共轭芳环。这些分子在生物医学研究、芳香食品制备和石油工程中很重要。传统上，苯酚已通过多种分析技术进行测量，如紫外可见光谱法、荧光法、液相色谱法和质谱法。这些检测方法能提供相对较高的灵敏度和选择性测量，但它们存在时空分辨率相对较低、生物相容性差、分析时间长、成本高以及样品处理复杂等问题。最近，电化学已成为测量苯酚的一种可行替代方法。在本研究中，我们利用碳纤维微电极（CFMEs）结合快速扫描循环伏安法对苯酚进行灵敏且选择性的测量。我们测试了四种常见的酚类化合物：苯酚、2-甲基氨基酚（2-MAP）、4-甲基氨基酚（4-MAP）和3-羟基苯甲酸（3-HBA）。我们发现苯酚、2-MAP、4-MAP和3-HBA在CFMEs表面均部分受吸附和扩散控制，并且通过重复进样可以检测到所有这四种分子。结构差异导致这四种酚类化合物的灵敏度各不相同，我们能够同时检测并区分复杂溶液中与多巴胺和血清素共存的酚类化合物。最后，我们在模拟尿液中测量酚类化合物，回收率很高。这些检测方法证明了对酚类化合物的电化学测量得到了增强，这将为这些复杂分子创造更有效的诊断方法，以帮助阐明它们在生物学背景下的作用机制和最终意义。
