Surface plasmon resonance sensor based on molecularly imprinted films for the detection of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN)

A novel surface plasmon resonance(SPR)sensor based on molecularly imprinted films(MIFs)was developed for the detection of pentaerythritol tetranitrate(PETN).In this work,the thin MIFs were formed on a gold sensor chip through thermal co-polymerization of functional monomers(methacrylic acid,MAA)and crosslinking monomers(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate,EGDMA)in the presence of template molecules PETN.The template molecules PETN were subsequently removed from the MIFs simply by rinsing the MIFs with a mixture of acetonitrile and acetic acid 9∶1(v/v),thus the recognition sites were formed for specific detection of PETN.According to the mass coverage equation,the surface coverage of removed PETN from MIFs was about 10.8 ng/mm2.The developed SPR sensor allowed for the detection of PETN at concentration down to 10-10 mol/L.A control experiment utilizing an analogue cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine(RDX)showed MIFs' good selectivity to PETN.