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Antibody-based analytical techniques have gained increasing importance in environmental analysis. Rapid assays, portable devices and formats that require a limited number of steps have a high potential for on-site analysis in outdoor environments or in environmentally relevant facilities such as wastewater treatment plants. Many of these methods have become more sensitive and more versatile due to new, advanced materials, such as novel particles, specifically prepared surfaces, new labels, specifically coated electrodes etc. The talk shows some of our works in this context.
A vast number of emerging pollutants is being detected in the environment. Another lingering problem are health-threatening contaminants, such as mycotoxins, that deteriorate food and feed.
Analytical methods, suitable for trace analysis, are needed that are desirably also fast, inexpensive and, if possible, robust, and portable. Immunoanalytical, i.e., antibody-based methods, which are available in a broad range of formats, can be profitably used here to analyze for the distribution and the concen-tration trends of contaminants.
Some of these formats are single-analyte but high-throughput methods. To use them wisely, indicator substances or sum parameters are being established and used in screening approaches. Other methods are suitable to be performed on portable instrumentation in the field (on-site), more precisely at the point-of-need. Furthermore, there are array technologies that allow for parallel analysis of several analytes of interest (multiplexing).
The talk reports on methods and data for compounds considered as anthropogenic contamination markers (the antiepileptic carbamazepine, the analgesic diclofenac, the anti-histaminic cetirizine, the steroid hormone estrone, the antimicrobial amoxicillin, the stimulants caffeine and cocaine, the endo-crine disruptor bisphenol A, and a bile acid). Some work on mycotoxins (ochratoxin A and ergot alka-loids) is also presented. It is demonstrated that antibody-based approaches have a huge potential to gain analytical insights at the point-of-need.
γ-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a natural metabolite, which is currently used as a date rape drug. Particularly, GHB is rapidly eliminated and its detection in realistic environments is only possible within 6-12 h after ingestion. Owing to the increasing use of GHB for criminal purposes, a need has arisen to develop simple and in situ efficient assays for its identification in aqueous and alcoholic drinks. Based on the above, we report herein an indicator displacement assay (IDA) for GHB detection that consists of a Cu2+ complex with a tetradentate ligand and the fluorescent dye coumarin 343 (IDA probe 1). Firstly, the tetradentate ligand was synthesized by reductive amination of a 1,2-cyclohexyl diamine with 2-quinoline carboxaldehyde. Subsequently, this ligand was reacted with Cu(CF3SO3)2 to obtain the corresponding copper complex, which generates the final sensing ensemble by coordinating with coumarin 343 (IDA probe 1). The sensing mechanism relies on a displacement of coumarin 343 from the sensing ensemble 1 thus restoring its fluorescence, as a consequence of the higher binding constant between GHB and complex, showing a high sensitivity in MES buffer (50 mM, pH 6.0) (detection limit of 0.03 μM). Likewise, system design and optimization led to a straightforward integration into a lateral-flow assay without further treatment or conditioning of the test strips while guaranteeing fast overall assay times of 1 min (Figure 1). In this way, IDA probe 1 was incorporated into a coated PEG-glass fibre (PEG-GF) membrane to obtain a highly robust and sensitive lateral flow assay for GHB detection in spiked alcoholic drinks with a detection limit of 0.1 μM in less than 1 min coupled to smartphone readout.
Rapid tests and assays to be used outside of a laboratory for non-trained personal and also at a point of need are becoming increasingly important in areas such as health, food, security, or the environment. Specially on that regard, paper-based sensors are emerging as a new class of devices because they fulfil the requisites of the "World Health Organization" to be ASSURED: affordable, sensitive, specific, user-friendly, rapid and robust, equipment free and deliverable to end-users. The physical, chemical and mechanical properties of cellulose or glass fiber paper in combination with the facility of preparation are making these materials of great interest while looking for cost-efficient and green alternatives for device production technologies. To improve the sensitivity of these systems, a particularly promising approach is the employment of gated indicator delivery systems using preorganized nanoscopic solid structures incorporated on paper strips to produce an exponential amplification of the detectable signal. Having in mind these concepts, several examples of (bio)gated materials incorporated into sensing membranes will be presented for the detection of small organic molecules, having fluorescence or electrochemiluminescence signal as output signal. Compared with fluorescence, it has been demonstrated that the non-optical excitation has significantly reduced the background signal, and with the help of a portable potentiostat in combination with a home-made 3D-printed case fitted onto a smartphone, the sensitivity of the sensing system has been improved tremendously, from the lower ppb range (fluorescence) to the lower ppt range. With this study, the applicability of ECL detection on paper strips in combination with gated indicator-releasing materials has been demonstrated for the first time, presenting a novel synergistic match. Considering the modularity of the system developed, the platform technology potential is obvious, promising expansion of the general concept to many other analytes, applications and scenarios.