Design optimisation and fabrication of amino acid based molecularly imprinted sensor for the selective determination of food additive tartrazine.

In this work, we developed a new molecularly imprinted polymer detector for tartrazine's rapid and selective detection. Electropolymerisation using l-Methionine resulted in the polymer immobilised on the carbon fibre paper electrode's surface. MIP film was formed by electropolymerisation in the presence of the template tartrazine. The polymer frame comprises cavities after template removal, which can specifically bind to the analyte molecule. Without pre-treatment, the developed sensor MIPMet/CFP detects tartrazine in beverage samples precisely and rapidly. The sensor has a linear response in the concentration range of 0.6 nM- 160 nM, high sensitivity (601964 µAµMcm), and a low detection limit of 27 pM under optimum conditions. MIPMet/CFP sensor displayed the ability to distinguish target analyte from interferants selectively. The performance of the MIPMet/CFP sensor in assessing tartrazine in different saffron powder and packed juice samples suggests that it could be used to detect tartrazine fast and effectively.