Selective recognition of ammonia and aliphatic amines by C-N fused phenazine derivative: A hydrogel based smartphone assisted ‘opto-electronic nose’ for food spoilage evaluation with potent anti-counterfeiting activity and a potential prostate cancer biomarker sensor

Recent advancements in chemosensors for the detection of food spoilage

The need for reliable sensors has become a major requirement to confirm the quality and safety of food commodities. Chemosensors are promising sensing tools to identify contaminants and food spoilage to ensure food safety. Chemosensing materials are evolving and becoming potential mechanisms to enable onsite and real-time monitoring of food safety. This review summarizes the information about the basic four types of chemosensors (colorimetric, optical, electrochemical, and piezoelectric) employed in the food sector, the latest advancements in the development of chemo-sensing mechanisms, and their food applications, with special emphasis on the future outlook of them. In this review, we discuss the novel chemosensors developed from the year 2018 to 2022 to detect spoilage in some common types of food like fish, meat, milk, cheese and soy sauce. This work will provide a fundamental step toward further development and innovations of chemosensors targeting different arenas in the food industry.

Advanced technologies in biodegradable packaging using intelligent sensing to fight food waste

The limitation of conventional packaging in demonstrating accurate and real-time food expiration dates leads to food waste and foodborne diseases. Real-time food quality monitoring via intelligent packaging could be an effective solution to reduce food waste and foodborne illnesses. This review focuses on recent technological advances incorporated into food packaging for monitoring food spoilage, with a major focus on paper-based sensors and their combination with smartphone. This review paper offers a comprehensive exploration of advanced macromolecular technologies in biodegradable packaging, a general overview of paper-based probes and their incorporation into food packaging coupled with intelligent sensing mechanisms for monitoring food freshness. Given the escalating global concerns surrounding food waste, our manuscript serves as a pivotal resource, consolidating current research findings and highlighting the transformative potential of these innovative packaging solutions. We also highlight the current intelligent paper-based food freshness sensors and their various advantages and limitations. Examples of implementation of paper-based sensors/probes for food storage and their accuracy are presented. Finally, we examined how intelligent packaging can be an alternative to reduce food waste. Several technologies discussed here have good potential to be used in food packaging for real-time food monitoring, especially when combined with smartphone diagnosis.

Pathways toward wearable and high-performance sensors based on hydrogels: toughening networks and conductive networks

Wearable hydrogel sensors provide a user-friendly option for wearable electronics and align well with the existing manufacturing strategy for connecting and communicating with large numbers of Internet of Things devices. This is attributed to their components and structures, which exhibit exceptional adaptability, scalability, bio-compatibility, and self-healing properties, reminiscent of human skin. This review focuses on the recent research on principal structural elements of wearable hydrogels: toughening networks and conductive networks, highlighting the strategies for enhancing mechanical and electrical properties. Wearable hydrogel sensors are categorized for an extensive exploration of their composition, mechanism, and design approach. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of wearable hydrogels and offers guidance for the design of components and structures in order to develop high-performance wearable hydrogel sensors.

Photodynamic antibacterial chitosan/nitrogen-doped carbon dots composite packaging film for food preservation applications

In this study, we synthesized nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) with remarkable photodynamic antibacterial properties by a hydrothermal method. The composite film was prepared by solvent casting method, compounding N-CDs with chitosan (CS). The morphology and structure of the films were analyzed by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM) techniques. The films' mechanical, barrier, thermal stability, and antibacterial properties were analyzed. A preservation test of the films was studied on the samples of pork, volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), total viable count (TVC), and pH were determined. Besides, the effect of film on the preservation of blueberries was observed. The study found that, compared with the CS film, the CS/N-CDs composite film is strong and flexible, with good UV light barrier performance. The prepared CS/7 % N-CDs composites showed high photodynamic antibacterial rates of 91.2 % and 99.9 % for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. In the preservation of pork, it was found that its pH, TVB-N, and TVC indicators were significantly lower. The extent of mold contamination and anthocyanin loss was less in the CS/3 % N-CDs composite film-coated group, which could greatly extend the shelf life of food.

Anion-directed structural tuning of two azomethine-derived Zn2+ complexes with optoelectronic recognition of Cu2+ in aqueous medium with anti-cancer activities: from micromolar to femtomolar sensitivity with DFT revelation

Herein, two novel mononuclear transition metal Zn2+ complexes i.e. [Zn(HL)(N3)(OAc)] (NS-1) & [Zn(HL)2(ClO4)2] (NS-2) have been synthesised using a tridentate clickable Schiff base ligand, HL (2-methyl-2-((pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino)propan-1-ol), and the polyatomic monoanions N3- and ClO4- for NS-1 and NS-2 respectively. Interestingly, NS-1 and NS-2 have been explored for the detection of Cu2+ with an LOD of 48.6 fM (response time ∼6 s) and 2.4 μM respectively through two mutually independent pathways that were studied using sophisticated methods like UV-Vis, cyclic voltammetry, ESI-MS etc. with theoretical DFT support. Herein, both chemosensors are equally responsive towards the detection of Cu2+ in aqueous as well as other targeted real field samples with appreciable recovery percentage (74.8-102%), demonstrating their practical applicability. Moreover, the detection of unbound Cu2+ in a human urine specimen was also analysed which may be helpful for the diagnosis of Cu2+-related disorders like Wilson's disease. Taking one step ahead, TLC strips have been employed for on-field detection of the targeted analytes by contact mode analysis. Additionally, the anti-cancer activity of these complexes has also been studied on breast cancer cells with the help of the MTT assay. It has been found that at a 0.5 mM dose, both NS-1 and NS-2 could kill 81.4% and 73.2% of cancer cells respectively. However, it has been found that NS-1 destroys normal cells together with cancer cells. Hence, NS-2 could be administered as a better anticancer drug for MDA-MB-231 cancer cells in comparison with NS-1. In a nutshell, the present work describes how anion-directed synthesis of two architecturally different metal complexes leads toward the detection of the same analyte via an independent chemodosimetric pathway along with their anti-cancer activities on breast cancer cells.

Detection and Quantification of Ammonia as the Ammonium Cation in Human Saliva by 1H NMR: A Promising Probe for Health Status Monitoring, with Special Reference to Cancer

Ammonia (NH₃) has been shown to be a key biomarker for a wide variety of diseases, such as hepatic and chronic kidney diseases (CKD), and cancers. It also has relevance to the oral health research area, and, hence, its determination in appropriate biofluids and tissues is of much importance. However, since it contains exchangeable >N-H protons, its analysis via ¹H NMR spectroscopy, which is a widely employed technique in untargeted metabolomic studies, is rendered complicated. In this study, we focused on the ¹H NMR analysis of this biomarker in less invasively collected human saliva samples, and we successfully identified and quantified it as ammonium cation (NH₄⁺) in post-collection acidulated forms of this biofluid using both the standard calibration curve and standard addition method (SAM) approaches. For this purpose, n = 27 whole mouth saliva (WMS) samples were provided by healthy human participants, and all donors were required to follow a fasting/oral environment abstention period of 8 h prior to collection. Following acidification (pH 2.00), diluted WMS supernatant samples treated with 10% (v/v) D₂O underwent ¹H NMR analysis (600 MHz). The acquired results demonstrated that NH₄⁺ can be reliably determined in these supernatants via integration of the central line of its characteristic 1:1:1 intensity triplet resonance (complete spectral range δ = 6.97-7.21 ppm). Experiments performed also demonstrated that any urease-catalysed NH₃ generation occurring post-sampling in WMS samples did not affect the results acquired during the usual timespan of laboratory processing required prior to analysis. Further experiments demonstrated that oral mouth-rinsing episodes conducted prior to sample collection, as reported in previous studies, gave rise to major decreases in salivary NH₄⁺ levels thereafter, which renormalised to only 50-60% of their basal control concentrations at the 180-min post-rinsing time point. Therefore, the WMS sample collection method employed significantly affected the absolute levels of this analyte. The LLOD was 60 μmol/L with 128 scans. The mean ± SD salivary NH₄⁺ concentration of WMS supernatants was 11.4 ± 4.5 mmol/L. The potential extension of these analytical strategies to the screening of other metabolites with exchangeable ¹H nuclei is discussed, as is their relevance to the monitoring of human disorders involving the excessive generation and/or uptake of cellular/tissue material, or altered homeostasis, in NH₃.

"Caught in the Act" @ disruption of A-ET-E process in the recognition of F- by a lamellar EuIII-MOF in heterogeneous manner with logic gate construction: From protagonist idea to implementation world

Development of cost-effective and reliable fluoride sensor for assessing water quality of natural water samples is of immense importance in developing countries as they can provide an easy platform for safeguarding human health. These sensors should be as simple as possible to be fabricated locally by layman. In this context, Eu^III-based MOFs provide trustable platform with bright luminescence in the visible region due to their absorbance-energy transfer-emission (A-ET-E) process. Herein the designed synthesis of a 2D porous coordination polymer, Eu@CMERI, has been carried out following a solvothermal reaction route. The compound shows selective "turn-off" sensing of fluoride in heterogeneous manner from purely aqueous phase and other biological matrices with a detection limit of 28.4 ppb and it carries enormous importance for drinking water analysis under internal regulations. Prohibition of A-ET-E cycle of the Eu^III-MOF is proposed to be the prime reason for fluorescence quenching upon interaction with F^-. DFT studies also revealed that lowest △E_HOMO-LUMO and highest chemical potential value (μ) of F^- are the driving forces for selectivity of Eu^III-MOF towards the targeted anion. The high stability of the porous frameworks along with its interesting sensing features, including fast response and wide linear detection range etc. instigated us not to restrict the chemistry of Eu^III-MOFs at protagonist idea rather to explore its application to real-world analysis. Based on the fluorescence signal exhibited by the targeted analyte, an integrated AND-OR logic gate has also been fabricated which depicts its applicability in molecular electronics. In view of the modular design principle of our polymeric probe, the proposed strategy could open a new horizon to construct powerful sensing materials for ultrafast detection of other important pollutants in the domain of supramolecular chemistry in coming days.

Regioselective synthetic approach for key precursors of 6-aryl benzo[c]phenanthridin-10-ol derivatives: A useful compound for selective chromogenic recognition of fluoride

A regioselective synthetic strategy for 6-aryl-8,9-dihydro-benzo[c]phenanthridine-10(7H)-ones (4) is accomplished using a one-pot four-component reaction by fine-tuning of reaction temperature. DMSO is excellently used as a reactant-cum-solvent to introduce carbonyl functionality...