Determination of Antibiotics in Wastewaters Using Amperometric Sensors

Abstract

Sensors are developed for the amperometric determination of the antibiotics Cefur and Ceftr in aqueous solutions. The sensor electrodes were coated with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). To assess the selectivity and molecular recognition ability of the sensors, the imprinting factor and selectivity coefficient were determined. The imprinting factor reached 5.3 for MIP-Cefur and 5.1 for MIP-Ceftr. The results demonstrated that the MIPs exhibited higher selectivity and recognition capability for Cefur and Ceftr compared to non-imprinted polymers. The antibiotics were quantified in aqueous solutions using the calibration curve method. The experimentally found concentration ranges for Cefur and Ceftr were from 1.0 × 10^–5 to 0.1 g/L. The limits of detection were 3.5 × 10^–6 g/L for Cefur and 6.6 × 10^–6 g/L for Ceftr. MIP-modified sensors were tested in the determination of antibiotics in wastewaters. The findings confirmed the applicability of amperometric sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers to the determination of Cefuroxime sodium and Ceftriaxone sodium in both model and real aqueous solutions.