Acrylic molecularly imprinted polymer-based electrochemical sensor for precise nanomolar quantification of daclatasvir dihydrochloride in Daclavirdin®, Serum, and Urine

Monitoring the concentration of daclatasvir dihydrochloride (DCT), an anti-HCV drug, in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids is essential for patients undergoing liver treatment. This study details the fabrication of a highly sensitive potentiometric sensor based on a carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for DCT quantification. The MIPs were synthesized using acrylic acid or acrylamide as monomers, cross-linked with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinker, creating selective recognition sites for DCT. The optimal sensor (Sensor 6) is composed of 2.00 % graphite, 68.25 % tricresyl phosphate (TCP) as a plasticizer, and 0.50 % sodium tetraphenyl borate (Na-TPB) as an ion exchanger. The sensor demonstrated a slope of 30.32 ± 0.51 mV/decade, a broad dynamic ranges from 10^-8 to 10^-2 M, and a low detection limit of 6.9 nM and a low quantification limit of 21.0 nM. The sensor also demonstrated excellent sensitivity, precision, and reproducibility, with a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.999 and a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.70 %, making it highly suitable for accurate DCT quantification. The proposed sensor displayed excellent selectivity towards DCT in the presence of various metal cations, as well as other compounds, including benzoate, alanine, glycine, glucose, lactose, starch, ascorbic acid, uric acid, egg albumin, and sofosbuvir. Furthermore, it was successfully applied to bulk solutions, pharmaceutical formulations, and human urine and plasma samples, achieving recovery values of 98.2 % to 102.1 %, confirming its accuracy and reliability.