Enhanced electrochemical sensing of uracil via a glassy carbon electrode modified with a COF-V-AuNP composite

Uracil (U) in DNA plays an important role in numerous biological processes. It can be introduced through two primary mechanisms, cytosine deamidation and misincorporation of dUMP during DNA replication. The misincorporation of U in DNA is associated with various diseases, especially cancer. Here, we developed an electrochemical method utilizing a modified electrode with self-assembled gold nanoparticles on covalent organic frameworks (COF-V-AuNPs) for the direct detection of U. The COF-V-AuNP composite offers numerous advantages, such as exceptional stability, abundant π-functional sites, excellent conductivity, a high specific surface area, a porous structure, and a strong non-covalent affinity, all of which facilitate sensitive detection of U. This electrochemical method achieves a detection limit of 1.92 μM for U. Furthermore, the method was successfully applied to the detection of U using human serum samples as matrices, indicating its potential for clinical applications.