Fluorescent sensor based on solid-phase extraction with negligible depletion: A proof-of-concept study with amines as analytes

Miao Zhang; Rana Dalapati; Jiangfan Shi; Chenglong Liao; Qingyun Tian; Chuanyi Wang; Xiaomei Yang; Shuai Chen; Marc D Porter; Ling Zang

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2023.340828

Fluorescent sensor based on solid-phase extraction with negligible depletion: A proof-of-concept study with amines as analytes

Anal Chim Acta. 2023 Mar 8:1245:340828. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.340828. Epub 2023 Jan 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Shaanxi, Xi'an, 710021, China.
² Nano Institute of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
³ Nano Institute of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
⁴ Jiangxi Engineering Laboratory of Waterborne Coating, Jiangxi, Nanchang, 330013, China. Electronic address: shuai.chen@jxstnu.edu.cn.
⁵ Nano Institute of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA. Electronic address: marc.porter@utah.edu.
⁶ Nano Institute of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA. Electronic address: lzang@eng.utah.edu.

PMID: 36737131
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.340828

Abstract

This paper describes the development and proof-of-concept testing of an easy-to-use trace analysis technique, namely F-SPE, by coupling fluorescent sensor with solid phase extraction (SPE). F-SPE is a two-step methodology that concentrates an analyte from a liquid sample onto a fluorophore-modified membrane and measures the amount of analyte from the extent the extracted analyte quenches the emission of the fluorophore. By applying the principle of negligible depletion (ND) intrinsic to SPE, the procedure of F-SPE for analyzing a sample can be markedly simplified while maintaining the ability to detect analytes at low limits of detection (LOD). The merits of this approach are demonstrated by impregnating a SPE membrane with a perylene diimide (PDI) fluorophore, N,N'-di(nonyldecyl)-perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (C9/9-PDI), for the low-level detection of organic amines (e.g., aniline) and amine-containing drugs (e.g., Kanamycin). The sensing mechanism is based on the donor-acceptor quenching of PDI by amines, which, when coupled with the concentrative nature of SPE, yields LODs for aniline and Kanamycin of 67 nM (∼6 ppb) and 32 nM (∼16 ppb), respectively.

Keywords: Fluorescent sensor; Organic amine; Perylene diimide; Solid-phase extraction; Water pollutant detection.