Ultratrace Analysis of Dopamine Using a Combination of Imprinted Polymer-Brush-Coated SPME and Imprinted Polymer Sensor Techniques

A combination approach in solid-phase microextraction, based on a molecularly imprinted polymer-brush coating on an optical fiber coupled with a complementary molecularly imprinted polymer sensor, has been adopted for isolation, preconcentration, and analysis of dopamine at ultratrace levels in highly dilute aqueous samples. This combination enabled enhanced (up to 8.5-fold) preconcentration of the analyte, which is appropriate for achieving a stringent detection limit in clinical diagnosis of several neurodegenerative diseases. The detection limit of dopamine in biological samples was 0.018 ng mL^?1 with a relative standard deviation less than 2.1% and without any non-specific contributions.