Voltammetric Determination of Carbofuran Pesticide in Biological and Environmental Samples using a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Sensor, a Multivariate Optimization

Increasing application of pesticides and their toxicity made it essential to develop reliable and accurate methods of their trace quantification. This research was aimed to develop an electrochemical nanocomposite sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for selective and sensitive determination of carbofuran. The proposed sensor was made based on incorporation of carbofuran MIP in the carbon paste. The square wave voltammetric (SWV) method was applied for the electrochemical measurements. The experimental design was then used to optimize parameters affecting the sensor response according to selected experimental domain. The obtained linear range after optimization of the parameters was from 1 x 10(-9) to 1 x 10(-6) M. The calculated detection limit was 3 x 10(-10) M. Under optimized extraction and determination conditions, the proposed modified sensor indicated the considerable sensitivity and selectivity to determine carbofuran in some real samples (human urine, tap and river water) without any special sample pre-treatment before the analysis.