Innovative Nb₂CT_x MXene nanomaterial-supported MIP sensor for detection of HIF–PHI inhibitor roxadustat in biological and pharmaceutical samples

Roxadustat (ROX), a hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF–PHI), effectively treats anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) by increasing hemoglobin levels by activating the body's natural hypoxic response. This work details the development and manufacturing of an electrochemical sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) and supported by MXene for the detection of ROX. Additionally, MIP-based sensors were created to identify ROX in standard solutions and biological samples. In the MIP-based electrochemical sensor developed using the photopolymerization (PP) method on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface were utilized 2-dimensional Nb₂CT_x MXene (2D Nb₂CT_x) as a pore former, 3-amino phenylboronic acid (3-APBA) served as the functional monomer, and ROX as the template molecule. Under optimized experimental conditions, the designed sensor exhibited a linearity range of 1.0 × 10⁻¹³ – 1.0 × 10⁻¹² M. Interference studies confirmed the superior selectivity of the MIP-based sensor for ROX, demonstrating its effectiveness in various binary mixtures. The recovery values of the MIP-based sensors were found to be 100.80% for commercial tablet samples and 99.53% for commercial serum samples. Moreover, the relative selectivity coefficient (k′) of the proposed sensor was calculated. This recently designed sensor provides a promising method for quickly, sensitively, economically, and selectively analyzing ROX. The results obtained in high selectivity and recovery studies make the developed sensor a valuable tool for various applications in clinical and pharmaceutical environments. In addition, this study achieved better sensitivity than other studies in the literature and is the first electrochemical sensor prepared using Nb₂CT_x MXene nanomaterials-supported MIP technology for ROX measurement.