Comparative performance analysis of mussel-inspired polydopamine, polynorepinephrine, and poly-α-methyl norepinephrine in electrochemical biosensors.

Abstract

Polydopamine (PDA) has garnered significant interest for applications in biosensors, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. However, similar polycatecholamines like polynorepinephrine (PNE) with additional hydroxyl groups and poly-α-methylnorepinephrine (PAMN) with additional hydroxyl and methyl groups remain unexplored in the biosensing domain. This research introduces three innovative biosensing platforms composed of ternary nanocomposite based on reduced graphene oxide (RGO), gold nanoparticles (Au NPs), and three sister polycatecholamine compounds (PDA, PNE, and PAMN). The study compares and evaluates the performance of the three biosensing systems for the ultrasensitive detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The formation of the nanocomposites was meticulously examined through UV-Visible, Raman, XRD, and FT-IR studies with FE-SEM and HR-TEM analysis. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry measurements were also performed to determine the electrochemical characteristics of the modified electrodes. Electrochemical biosensing experiments reveal that the RGO-PDA-Au, RGO-PNE-Au, and RGO-PAMN-Au-based biosensors detected target DNA up to a broad detection range of 0.1 × 10^-8 to 0.1 × 10^-18 M, with a low detection limit (LOD) of 0.1 × 10^-18, 0.1 × 10^-16, and 0.1 × 10^-17 M, respectively. The bioelectrodes were proved to be highly selective with excellent sensitivities of 3.62 × 10^-4 mA M^-1 (PDA), 7.08 × 10^-4 mA M^-1 (PNE), and 6.03 × 10^-4 mA M^-1 (PAMN). This study pioneers the exploration of two novel mussel-inspired polycatecholamines in biosensors, opening avenues for functional nanocoatings that could drive further advancements in this field.