Selective sensing of triazine herbicides in imprinted membranes using ion-sensitive field-effect transistors and microgravimetric quartz crystal microbalance measurements

A series of triazine herbicides consisting of the chlorotriazine atranex (atrazine), (1), prozinex, (2), tyllanex, (3), simanex, (4) and the methylthiolated triazines ametrex, (5), prometrex, (6) and terbutex, (7), were imprinted in an acrylamide-methacrylate copolymer. The polymer was deposited on the gate surface of ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFETs) and piezoelectric Au-quartz crystals. Selective sensing of the imprinted substrates was accomplished by the imprinted polymer membrane associated with the ISFETs and Au-quartz crystals. Binding of the substrates onto the imprinted polymer associated with the gate of the ISFET alters the electrical charge and potential of the gate interface, thus allowing the potentiometric transduction of the binding events. The association of the substrates with the imprinted membrane linked to the Au-quartz crystal results in the membrane swelling, thus enabling the microgravimetric quartz crystal microbalance assay of the substrate binding events. The specificity of the imprinted recognition sites is attributed to complementary H-bond and electrostatic interactions between the substrates and the acrylamide-methacrylic acid copolymer.