z Analytical Chemistry Computational Design and Electropolymerization of Molecularly Imprinted Poly(p-Aminobenzoic-Acid-Co– Dapsone) Using Multivariate Optimization for Tetradifon Residue Analysis Fatemeh Ganjeizadeh Rohani, [a, b] Alireza Mohadesi, [c] and Mehdi Ansari* [a] In this study, tetradifon as a non-electroactive pesticide was measured by a new gold electrode modified with electro- polymerized molecularly imprinted poly(para aminobenzoic acid-co-4,4-diaminodiphenyl sulfone) (P-pABA-co-DDS). The best available monomer was selected based on computational design and then the polymer was developed in optimized condition. Screening of various factors was performed by Plackett–Burman design (PBD) and central composite design (CCD) was utilized to select optimized condition. Under the optimized condition, calibration curve of tetradifon on MIP/ gold electrode was constructed with a linear range of 0.05- 2.50 μM. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) was found to be 0.014 and 0.047 μM, respectively. The developed method showed good stability, repeatability, and reproducibility, sensitivity and selectivity for tetradifon. The developed method was applied to determine tetradifon in real water samples. 1. Introduction Pollution is an important issue that has hit the world today and the study of environmental pollution has attracted attention of many researchers. The pesticides which used in agriculture, are considered as one of the most dangerous pollutants of the environment. Pesticides remained in the environment can seriously harm human health and cause environmental con- tamination. Tetradifon (4-chlorophenyl 2,4,5-trichlorophenyl sulfone) is an organochlorine insecticide which is broadly used to control a wide range of phytophagous mites which showed toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity in animals. [1] Deter- mination of trace amounts of the pesticides in water and agricultural products is very challenging in view of health and regulatory issues. Many analytical methods such as GC, HPLC, GC-MS, TLC and CE have been reported for reliable, cost effective and fast residue analysis of tetradifon in the environ- ment. Most chromatographic methods are time consuming, complicated and expensive. [2] Modification of electrodes by conducting polymers extensively used because of high stability, great precision, sticking on the electrode surface, proper control of thickness and ease of the chemical modification to obtain a higher response. Molecular imprinting polymers first put forward by Wulff [3] and Mosbach [4] has taken considerable attention to many areas of biotechnology [5] and biochemistry. [6] Due to the wide variety of complex real sample matrices including fruits, vegetable and biological materials, the development of analytical approaches allowing the detection of pesticide residue with high selectivity and sensitivity constitute a challenging task. MIPs with high molecular recognition potential are proven to be excellent sorbents for pesticide detection from real samples. MIP could not only help as detectors of pesticides but also as one step clean-up sorbents of pesticide residues in the environment. [7] Sensors development based on MIP have been drawn huge considerations of researchers in recent two decades. Among the MIP synthesis methods for sensor development, the electrochemical procedures are the easiest and inexpensive methods. [8] MIP has been extensively used in electrochemical sensors in various fields of application such as the environmental pollution monitoring, [9] drug detection, [8,10] food contaminants analysis. [11] Selectivity, during sample pretreatment, can be obtained by using sorbent able to retain compounds by a molecular recognition mechanism. Tetradifon as a common pesticide has been analyzed by a wide variety of methods including gas chromatography, high performance liquid chro- matography, thin layer chromatography, capillary electropho- resis and chemiluminescence sensing, [12] but there isn’t any report regarding the analysis of tetradifon by an electro- chemical sensor. Computer softwares in molecular design eliminates con- sumption of large amount of hazardous organic solvents that are regularly used in trial and error methods. The computa- [a] F. Ganjeizadeh Rohani, Prof. M. Ansari Pharmaceutics Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran E-mail: mansai@kmu.ac.ir [b] F. Ganjeizadeh Rohani Plant Protection Research Department, Kerman Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Kerman, Iran [c] Dr. A. Mohadesi Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, 19395-4697, Tehran, Iran Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.201902830 Full Papers DOI: 10.1002/slct.201902830 12236 ChemistrySelect 2019, 4,12236–12244 © 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim