Communication—Selective Electrochemical Detection of Catechin Compounds in Herbal Medicines

Most electrochemical sensors reported for catechin determination in herbal medicines actually involve the detection of not only catechins but also other flavonoids. This work proposes a strategy to selectively detect and quantify flavan-3-ol, known as catechins, in the presence of other flavonoids by complexation with AlCl3. Flavonoids (e.g.,rutin, quercetin) form stable complex with AlCl3 which affect the electrooxidation of these molecules. Hence, the electrochemical oxidation of catechin is free from the interference of other flavonoids as shown by differential-pulse voltammetry using glassy-carbon electrode. The approach was applied to herbal medicines and mass-spectrometry confirmed the presence of catechins in such samples.

A Review of Fabrication Technologies for Carbon Electrode-Based Micro-Supercapacitors

The very fast evolution in wearable electronics drives the need for energy storage micro-devices, which have to be flexible. Micro-supercapacitors are of high interest because of their high power density, long cycle lifetime and fast charge and discharge. Recent developments on micro-supercapacitors focus on improving the energy density, overall electrochemical performance, and mechanical properties. In this review, the different types of micro-supercapacitors and configurations are briefly introduced. Then, the advances in carbon electrode materials are presented, including activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene, onion-like carbon, and carbide-derived carbon. The different types of electrolytes used in studies on micro-supercapacitors are also treated, including aqueous, organic, ionic liquid, solid-state, and quasi-solid-state electrolytes. Furthermore, the latest developments in fabrication techniques for micro-supercapacitors, such as different deposition, coating, etching, and printing technologies, are discussed in this review on carbon electrode-based micro-supercapacitors.

Synthesis, Crystal Structure and Cyclic Voltammetric Behavior of N-aroyl-N′-(4′-cyanophenyl)thioureas

Herein, two title compounds, N-benzoyl-N′-(4′-cyanophenyl)thiourea (1) and N-(4-nitrobenzoyl)-N′-(4′-cyanophenyl)thiourea (2) were synthesized in a high yield, via different applications of aroyl isocyanate and 4-aminobenzonitrile. The structure of the prepared compounds was characterized by elemental analysis and FT-IR, 1H, and 13C-NMR spectroscopic methods. The crystal structure of the title compound 1 was determined by an X-ray single-crystal technique and an intramolecular C=O…H-N hydrogen bond and intermolecular C=S…H-N and C=S…H-C hydrogen interactions, which were observed for the crystal structure. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) and the Mulliken atomic charges of title compounds 1 and 2 were theoretically calculated and interpreted. Cyclic voltammetric (CV) experiments for the compounds were performed with the glassy carbon electrode. The reduction in potential values of the different functional groups such as nitro and cyano in title compounds were investigated using CV curves.

Synthesis and Introducing Au-Cu Alloy Nanoparticles/Porous Silicon as a Novel Modifier of Screen Printed Carbon Electrode in Simultaneous Electrocatalytic Detection of Codeine and Acetaminophen

In the present study, a bimetallic nanostructure of gold-copper (Au-CuNPs) was decorated on the surface of porous silicon (PSi) using an easy galvanic replacement reaction between metal ions and PSi in the presence of 0.1 M hydrofluoric acid solution. The morphology and structures of the Au-CuNPs@PSi nanocomposite were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. Then, prepared nanocomposite was used as a modifier in screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) for the highly sensitive simultaneous determination of codeine (COD) and acetaminophen (ACE). The combination of PSi and metals nanoparticles provide a porous and high surface area with excellent electrical conductivity which leads to reduce the peak potentials and enhance the oxidation peak currents of COD and ACE at the surface of the Au-CuNPs@PSi/SPCE nanosensor. The dynamic linear ranges were obtained from 0.06 to 0.6 µM for both COD and ACE and the detection limits (3.0 S/N) estimated 0.35 µM for COD and 0.30 µM for ACE, respectively. Moreover, recovery tests were carried out in real samples such as urine, human blood plasma, and tablets.

Construction of Electrochemical Aptamer Sensor Based on Pt-Coordinated Titanium-Based Porphyrin MOF for Thrombin Detection

In this work, a Pt-coordinated titanium-based porphyrin metal organic framework (Ti-MOF-Pt) was prepared by embedding single-atom Pt through strong interactions between the four pyrrole nitrogen atoms in the rigid backbone of the porphyrin. The synthesized Ti-MOF-Pt was characterized by TEM, XRD, FTIR and BET. Then, the Ti-MOF-Pt has been used for glassy carbon electrode surface modification and consequently used for construction of a thrombin aptamer sensor. The high surface area provides by MOF and excellent electrochemical property provided by Pt enhance the sensing performance. After optimization of amount of aptamer, hybridization time and specific reaction time, the fabricated aptamer sensor exhibited a linear relationship with the logarithm of the thrombin concentration in the range of 4 pM to 0.2 μM. The detection limit can be calculated as 1.3 pM.