CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 264003, Yantai, China.
Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 266071, Qingdao, China.
Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 17;14(1):6553. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42244-z.
Fluorescence analysis is a fast and sensitive method, and has great potential application in trace detection of environmental toxins. However, many important environmental toxins are non-fluorescent substances, and it is still a challenge to construct a fluorescence detection method for non-fluorescent substances. Here, by means of charge transfer effect and smart molecular imprinting technology, we report a sensitive indirect fluorescent sensing mechanism (IFSM) and microcystin (MC-RR) is selected as a model target. A molecular imprinted thin film is immobilized on the surface of zinc ferrite nanoparticles (ZnFeO NPs) by using arginine, a dummy fragment of MC-RR. By implementation of IFSM on the paper-based microfluidic chip, a versatile platform for the quantitative assay of MC-RR is developed at trace level (the limit of detection of 0.43 μg/L and time of 20 min) in real water samples without any pretreatment. Importantly, the proposed IFSM can be easily modified and extended for the wide variety of species which lack direct interaction with the fluorescent substrate. This work offers the potential possibility to meet the requirements for the on-site analysis and may explore potential applications of molecularly imprinted fluorescent sensors.
荧光分析是一种快速灵敏的方法，在痕量环境毒素检测中具有很大的潜在应用。然而，许多重要的环境毒素是非荧光物质，构建非荧光物质的荧光检测方法仍然是一个挑战。在这里，我们通过电荷转移效应和智能分子印迹技术，报道了一种灵敏的间接荧光传感机制（IFSM），并选择微囊藻毒素（MC-RR）作为模型靶标。通过在锌铁氧体纳米粒子（ZnFeO NPs）表面固定精氨酸印迹的薄膜，将其作为 MC-RR 的虚拟片段。通过在纸基微流控芯片上实施 IFSM，开发了一种在实际水样中痕量水平（检测限为 0.43μg/L，时间为 20min）进行 MC-RR 定量分析的通用平台，无需任何预处理。重要的是，所提出的 IFSM 可以很容易地进行修改和扩展，以适应缺乏与荧光底物直接相互作用的广泛物种。这项工作为现场分析提供了潜在的可能性，并可能探索分子印迹荧光传感器的潜在应用。
