Quantum dot assisted precise and sensitive fluorescence-based formaldehyde detection in food samples

Yu-Ching Lin; Pei-Ying Lin; Shu-Ling Hsieh; Chen-Yu Tsai; Anil Kumar Patel; Reeta Rani Singhania; Rajendranath Kirankumar; Cheng-Di Dong; Chiu-Wen Chen; Shuchen Hsieh

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2022.121729

Quantum dot assisted precise and sensitive fluorescence-based formaldehyde detection in food samples

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2022 Dec 15:283:121729. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.121729. Epub 2022 Aug 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan.
² Department of Seafood Science, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan.
³ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan; Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan; Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Lucknow 226 029, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁴ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan; Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan; School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan; Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan. Electronic address: shsieh@faculty.nsysu.edu.tw.

PMID: 35985226
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.121729

Abstract

Formaldehyde has an extremely reactive carbonyl group, commonly used as an antibacterial agent to sterilize and prevent food to spoil. This article describes an efficient and rapid detection method of formaldehyde from an aqueous solution by synthesizing 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) quantum dots (Nano A) which react with formaldehyde to generate a Schiff base reaction. The photoinduced electron transfer produced by the quantum dots themselves results in fluorescence quenching to detect formaldehyde. The detection limit can reach 10^-9 M, and it can further be used to detect formaldehyde content in foods, such as baby vegetables, mushrooms, and vermicelli among other daily foods.

Keywords: Fluorescence quenching; Formaldehyde; Health; Human; Quantum dots; Schiff base reaction.

MeSH terms

Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer / methods
Formaldehyde
Limit of Detection
Quantum Dots*

Substances

Formaldehyde