Polypyrrole nanofiber used to determin Urea in dialysis patients' blood

Iranian researchers measured urea level in blood plasma of dialysis patients by using polypyrrole nanostructured fiber through headspace solid phase microextraction. The method has applications even in very small concentrations of urea, and it can be used in a short time without the need for the preparation of the sample. The method can be used in future in the field of medicine to study the level of dialysis in the blood of patients. The researchers produced polypyrrole film with nanometric structure on the surface of platinum electrode through electrochemical synthesis in aqueous environment under nitrogen atmosphere by using a system containing three electrodes. Taking into consideration low vapor pressure of urea, a sorbent with high area is required to yield maximum amount of urea in headspace. The nanostructured fiber synthesized in this research has numerous pores and holes on its surface. Therefore, it is very appropriate to adsorb urea in the headspace. The most important parameter in this method is the vapor pressure of the sample. The higher the vapor pressure of the compound is, the better the conditions for the measurement of analyte will be. However, the three parameters of high tendency of urea to proton, high concentration of the compound in serum samples, and the use of nanostructured polypyrrole fiber somehow resolved the problem of low vapor pressure of the compound. Results of the research have been published in details in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, vol. 405, issue 15, April 2013, pp. 5333-5339.