Electrical impedance spectroscopy investigation of surfactant–magnetite–polypyrrole particles

Sustainable polypyrrole-based magnetic-microextraction of phthalates from jellies and apple-based beverages prior to tandem mass spectrometry analysis

Synthesised polypyrrole-coated Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles have been successfully characterised and applied as sorbent for the magnetic-micro-dispersive solid-phase extraction of eleven phthalic acid esters from jelly and apple-based beverage matrices widely consumed by the population and, especially, by children. Sorbent was synthesised through chemical coprecipitation and subsequently characterised by different techniques. The influence of several parameters on the extraction efficiency was exhaustively evaluated using a step-by-step strategy. The separation and quantification of the selected phthalates were performed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The validation of the methodology was carried out for jellies and apple-based beverages, employing dihexyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d₄ as the surrogate standard. Relative recovery values were in the range 70-114% for both matrices and relative standard deviations below 20% were obtained. The limits of quantification of the method were found in the range 0.147-0.416 µg/L. Feasibility of the developed methodology was proved by the analysis of commercialised jelly and apple-based beverage products.

Clavanin A-bioconjugated Fe3O4/Silane core-shell nanoparticles for thermal ablation of bacterial biofilms

The use of central venous catheters (CVC) is highly associated with nosocomial blood infections and its use largely requires a systematic assessment of benefits and risks. Bacterial contamination of these tubes is frequent and may result in development of microbial consortia also known as biofilm. The woven nature of biofilm provides a practical defense against antimicrobial agents, facilitating bacterial dissemination through the patient's body and development of antimicrobial resistance. In this work, the authors describe the modification of CVC tubing by immobilizing Fe₃O₄-aminosilane core-shell nanoparticles functionalized with antimicrobial peptide clavanin A (clavA) as an antimicrobial prophylactic towards Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Its anti-biofilm-attachment characteristic relies in clavA natural activity to disrupt the bacterial lipidic membrane. The aminosilane shell prevents iron leaching, which is an important nutrient for bacterial growth. Fe₃O₄-clavA-modified CVCs showed to decrease Gram-negative bacteria attachment up to 90% when compared to control clean CVC. Additionally, when hyperthermal treatment is triggered for 5 min at 80 °C in a tubing that already presents bacterial biofilm (CVC-BF), the viability of attached bacteria reduces up to 88%, providing an efficient solution to avoid changing catheter.

Synthesis of polypyrrole nanoparticles for constructing full-polymer UV/NIR-shielding film

Polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles with diameter of ∼50 nm are synthesized, and the corresponding flexible PPy–polyacrylic acid (PAA) full-polymer films can transmit visible light but efficiently block UV/NIR light.

Impedimetric sensor for toxigenic Penicillium sclerotigenum detection in yam based on magnetite-poly(allylamine hydrochloride) composite

We describe a new DNA biosensor for the detection of toxigenic Penicillium sclerotigenum in pure culture or infected yams. The P. sclerotigenum detection takes place on a self-assembled monolayer of a (magnetite)/(poly(allylamine hydrochloride)) (Fe3O4-PAH) composite that serves as an anchoring layer for the DNA hybridization interaction. Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to evaluate and quantify the hybridization degree. The Fe3O4-PAH composite is a good platform for the immobilization of biomolecules, due to the presence of many possible binding sites for nucleotides and to its large surface-to-volume ratio and good biocompatibility. The biosensor was capable of not only qualitatively detecting the presence of the fungus genome at low concentrations, but also shown a good quantitative impedimetric response its electrical resistance was monitored along the time of exposure. A Fe3O4-PAH-probe biosensor would require only small volumes and low concentrations of the analyte when used, for instance, in detecting P. sclerotigenum contamination of food, besides presenting many comparative advantages, such as selectivity, specificity and reproducibility, relative to alternative techniques.

An impedimetric biosensor for detection of dengue serotype at picomolar concentration based on gold nanoparticles-polyaniline hybrid composites

In this work, we describe the preparation and characterization of a novel gold nanoparticles-polyaniline hybrid composite (AuNpPANI) with SH-terminal groups that, due to its ability of immobilizing dengue serotype-specific primers 1, 2 and 3 (ST1, ST2 and ST3), can be used for the development of biosensors. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were performed. CV and EIS results demonstrated that the AuNpPANI can immobilize ST1, ST2 and ST3, forming AuNpPANI-ST complexes. Well-defined cyclic voltammograms characteristic of a diffusion-limited redox process were observed both for the bare gold electrode and after these electrodes have been modified by the adsorption of AuNpPANI or AuNpPANI-ST. The AuNpPANI-ST(1-3) systems were able to recognize the dengue serotype of different patients at picomolar concentrations. Even when small volumes and low concentrations of the analyte were used, the CV and EIS results showed unequivocal evidence of an existing interaction between dengue serotype-specific primers and their complementary genomic DNA targets.