A Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Electrochemical Sensor with Selective and Sensitive Detection Ability towards Methotrexate in Serum Samples

Abstract

A highly selective and sensitive method for detecting methotrexate (MTX) in serum samples using a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor have been developed. The preparation of the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) employed MTX as the template, which was synthesized via sol-gel technology. These polymers were then integrated with carbon paste to create the MMIPs/CPE (MMPE) sensor. Under optimized conditions, the MMPE sensor exhibited outstanding selectivity and sensitivity for MTX detection, with two linear ranges of 0.01–0.5 and 0.5–20.0 μM, and a detection limit of just 1.63 nM. Furthermore, the sensor’s practical application in serum sample analysis demonstrated its efficacy, with recovery rates between 81.0% and 125.0%. This innovation holds promise for clinical diagnosis and therapeutic applications, facilitating accurate and specific MTX detection in serum samples.