Ag-ZnS Embedded Polymeric Receptors for the Recognition of Human Serum Albumin
Amara Nasrullah,
Muhammad Zahid,
Asghar Ali,
Mirza Nadeem Ahmad,
Adnan Mujahid,
Tajamal Hussain,
Usman Latif,
Muhammad Imran Din,
Adeel Afzal
Affiliations
Amara Nasrullah
School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Muhammad Zahid
Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Asghar Ali
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Hafr Al Batin, P.O. Box 1803, Hafr Al Batin 39524, Saudi Arabia
Mirza Nadeem Ahmad
Department of Applied Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan
Adnan Mujahid
School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Tajamal Hussain
School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Usman Latif
Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Biomedical Materials, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Defense Road, Off. Raiwind Road, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
Muhammad Imran Din
School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Adeel Afzal
School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-i-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
The detection of human serum albumin (HSA) is of significant clinical importance in disease diagnoses. In this work, polymer-based synthetic receptors are designed by incorporating Ag-ZnS microspheres in molecularly imprinted poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (MIPs) for the gravimetric detection of HSA. Among different compositions of Ag-ZnS@MIPs, MIPs having methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate volume ratio of 3:2 exhibit enhanced HSA sensitivity in the concentration range of 5–200 ng/mL. A remarkably low threshold limit of detection (LOD = 0.364 ng/mL) is achieved with quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) based gravimetric sensors. Furthermore, the Ag-ZnS@MIPs/QCM sensors show high selectivity for HSA compared to other proteins, e.g., bovine serum albumin (BSA), glycoprotein, ribonuclease, and lysozyme. Hence, the gravimetric quantification of HSA realizes a highly sensitive, selective, and label-free detection mechanism with a limit of quantification down to 1.1 ng/mL.
