Optical sensor arrays for the detection and discrimination of natural products

Covering: up to the end of 2022Natural products (NPs) have found uses in medicine, food, cosmetics, materials science, environmental protection, and other fields related to our life. Their beneficial properties along with potential toxicities make the detection and discrimination of NPs crucial for their applications. Owing to the merits of low cost and simple operation, optical sensor arrays, including colorimetric and fluorometric sensor arrays, have been widely applied in the detection of small molecule NPs and discrimination of structurally similar small molecule NPs or complex mixtures of NPs. This review provides a brief introduction to the optical sensor array and focuses on its progress toward the detection and discrimination of NPs. We summarized the design principle of sensor arrays toward various NPs (i.e., saccharides and polyhydroxy compounds, organic acids, flavonoids, organic sulfur compounds, amines, amino acids, and saponins) based on their functional groups and characteristic chemical properties, along with representative examples. Moreover, the challenges and potential directions for further research of optical sensor arrays for NPs are proposed.

Novel and Facile Colorimetric Detection of Reducing Sugars in Foods via In Situ Formed Gelatin-Capped Silver Nanoparticles

The evolution of green technology for the simple and ecological formation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) inspired the present work for simple and efficient detection of reducing sugars (RS) in foods. The proposed method relies on gelatin as the capping and stabilizing agent and the analyte (RS) as the reducing agent. This work may attract significant attention, especially in the industry, for testing the sugar content using gelatin-capped silver nanoparticles as it not only detects the sugar in food, but also determines the content (%), which could be an alternative technique to the conventionally used DNS colorimetric method. For this purpose, a certain amount of maltose was mixed with a gelatin-silver nitrate. Different conditions that may affect the color changes at 434 nm owing to the in situ formed AgNPs, such as gelatin-silver nitrate ratio, PH, time, and temperature, have been investigated. The 1:3 mg/mg ratio of gelatin-silver nitrate dissolved in 10 mL distilled water was most effective in color formation. The development of AgNPs color increases within 8-10 min at PH 8.5 as the selected optimum value and at the optimum temperature of 90 °C for the evolution of the gelatin-silver reagent's redox reaction. The gelatin-silver reagent showed a fast response (less than 10 min) with a detection limit for maltose at 46.67 µM. In addition, the selectivity of maltose was checked in the presence of starch and after its hydrolysis with α-amylase. Compared with the conventionally used dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) colorimetric method, the proposed method could be applied to commercial fresh apple juice, watermelon, and honey to prove its viability for detecting RS in fruits; the total reducing sugar content was 287, 165, and 751 mg/g, respectively.

Silver Nanoparticle Formation-Based Colorimetric Determination of Reducing Sugars in Food Extracts via Tollens' Reagent

A simple, sensitive, and nonenzymatic nanospectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of reducing sugars. The silver mirror reaction-assisted method is based on the in situ formation of silver nanoparticles in the presence of reducing sugars. All simple reducing sugars (glucose, galactose, fructose, mannose, maltose, and lactose) examined had perfectly linear regression equations. The detection limit for glucose was 40 nM. The proposed method could be selectively applied to various synthetic mixtures of reducing sugars with polyphenolic compounds, and to honey, milk, and commercial fruit juice as real samples using solid phase extraction as a clean-up process. The developed method was also statistically validated against conventional alkaline CUPRAC (cupric-neocuproine, Cu(II)-Nc) spectrophotometric method using Student's t- and F-tests.

Simultaneous Voltammetric Determination of Gallic and Protocatechuic Acids in Mango Juice Using a Reduced Graphene Oxide-Based Electrochemical Sensor

A simple and sensitive reduced graphene oxide-modified glassy carbon electrode-based electrochemical sensor was used for the concomitant determination of gallic acid (GA) and protocatechuic (PA) acid. The prepared sensor showed a significant enhancement in synergetic electro-catalytic performance towards GA and PA oxidation. A good resolution of the voltammetry peaks was obtained and a method of square wave voltammetry was developed for detection. The modified electrode was characterized by electrochemical techniques. The optimal experimental parameters were considered. GA and PA exhibited a linear increase in the peak currents with their concentrations in the range from 20 to 144 µmol·L−1 for GA and from 20 to 166 µmol·L−1 for PA, with limits of detection (S/N = 3) of 30.8 µmol·L−1 for GA and 10.2 µmol·L−1 for PA. The sensor applicability was simultaneously tested for the analytical determination of GA and PA in mango juice and exhibited a robust functionality.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) capped silver nanoparticles for antioxidant assay based on seed-mediated nanoparticle growth

A simple and rapid method for measurement of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was developed. In this work, gallic acid was used as the antioxidant standard. Poly(vinyl alcohol) embedded silver nanoparticles (PVA-AgNPs) were employed as a colorimetric sensor. The detection principle was based on the seed-mediated nanoparticle growth technique. The PVA-AgNPs act as a catalyst in the reduction of Ag⁺ by gallic acid by providing nucleation seeds. Ag⁺ was reduced to Ag° and accumulated on the PVA-AgNP surface, leading to an increase in the size of particles. The absorbance of the colloidal solution was drastically enhanced with a small red shift. Under optimal conditions, a linear response was established between the change in absorbance and the TAC value expressed in terms of gallic acid equivalents. The linear range was from 25 to 200μM with a detection limit of 22.1μM. Satisfactory precision was obtained with % relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.17. The developed sensor was successfully applied for TAC assessment of commercial ginger products. The PVA-AgNP sensor offers rapid analysis (within 5min) compared to other nanoparticle-based antioxidant assays. Synthesis of the particles and assay involved less-toxic chemicals, and is therefore a "greener" method.

One-step, room temperature, colorimetric melamine sensing using an in-situ formation of silver nanoparticles through modified Tollens process

We have developed a rapid, sensitive, one-step, and selective colorimetric detection method for melamine (MEL) in milk powder based upon an in-situ formation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) through modified Tollens process at room temperature. The triazine ring N atoms of MEL molecule were strategically designed to complex the Ag(+) through electron donor-acceptor interaction. During the AgNPs formation procedure, the MEL molecule, which has been covalently bonded with the Ag(+) ions, was adsorbed to the surface of as-prepared AgNPs, resulting in the aggregation of the adjacent AgNPs with detectable decreases of absorption signal. The concentration of MEL can be determined with the naked eye or a UV-vis spectrometer at which the yellow-to-brown color change associated with aggregate enhancement takes place. This method enables rapid (less than 30 min) and sensitive (limit of detection, LOD, 10 nM) detection, and it was also able to discriminate MEL from sixteen other milk relevant coexisting compounds. This assay does not utilize organic cosolvents, enzymatic reactions, light-sensitive dye molecules, lengthy protocols, or sophisticated instrumentation thereby overcoming some of the limitations of conventional methods.

Engineering natural materials as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates for in situ molecular sensing

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful analytical tool. However, its applications for in situ detection of target molecules presented on diverse material surfaces have been hindered by difficulties in rapid fabricating SERS-active substrates on the surfaces of these materials through a simple, low-cost, and portable approach. Here, we demonstrate our attempt to address this issue by developing a facile and versatile method capable of in situ generating silver nanoparticle film (SNF) on the surfaces of both artificial and natural materials in a simple, cheap, practical, and disposable manner. Taking advantage of the high SERS enhancement ability of the prepared SNF, the proposed strategy can be used for in situ inspecting herbicide and pesticide residues on vegetables, as well as the abuse of antiseptic in aquaculture industry. Therefore, it opens new avenues for advancing the application prospects of SERS technique in the fields of food safety, drug security, as well as environment monitoring.