Rapid detection of illegal biguanides in hypoglycemic health products using molecular imprinting combined with SERS technology

Resonance light scattering combined with miniaturized Thermal-Assisted Purge-and-Trap device for screening of hydrochloride drugs

Resonance Light Scattering (RLS) is a sensitive analytical technology hindered by its susceptibility to impurities in complex samples. This study introduces a combination of RLS with a high-efficiency sample preparation device, the Miniaturized Thermal-Assisted Purge-and-Trap (MTAPT), enhancing RLS's effectiveness in complex sample analysis. Specifically, we utilized MTAPT-RLS for the indirect screening of illegal hydrochloride drug additions in health products, based on three considerations: the transformation of bound HCl in hydrochloride drugs into volatile HCl under strong acid and heat; the minimal Cl content in health products for taste purposes; and the detectability of Cl ions by RLS upon the addition of AgNO3 and a stabilizer. Employing RLS, this method quantifies Cl elements via fluorescence signals, achieving a linear response (R = 0.9984) across 5.0-80.0 μg/mL and a recovery rate of 94.1-114.0 % across three sample types. With a detection limit of 2.0 μg/mL, this approach exceeds traditional rapid detection methods in speed and sensitivity, offering substantial benefits for food safety monitoring. Additionally, we developed a smartphone-based detection system utilizing RGB signal changes captured by smartphone cameras, coupled with a custom app. This system shows a linear response (R = 0.9888) within the same concentration range and detection limit. Notably, the green light source provided the highest sensitivity, aligning with the RLS peak at approximately 520 nm. With its excellent portability, this method is well-suited for on-site rapid detection, independent of bulky analytical instruments.

Advances and Challenges in Molecularly Imprinted Electrochemical Sensors for Application in Environmental, Biomedicine, and Food Safety

Molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensors (MIECSs) are a specialized class of sensors based on molecularly imprinted derivative materials (MIDPs), which have been extensively applied in environmental monitoring, biomedicine, and food safety, allowing for high selectivity and sensitivity in detecting target molecules. This review provides an in-depth exploration of the most innovative and successful nanomaterials employed for modifying imprinted polymers, highlighting their crucial role in enhancing sensor performance, including carbon-based nanomaterials, meal derivatives, magnetic nanomaterials, polymeric and composite nanomaterials. In addition to reviewing advances in derivative materials design, this article delves into the current challenges facing molecularly imprinted sensors, such as issues related to template removal, nonspecific binding, and fabrication reproducibility. These challenges limit the practical application of MIECSs, particularly in complex real-world environments. The review also discusses representative applications of these sensors, including environmental monitoring, biomedicine and food safety, which demonstrate their versatility and potential. Finally, the review outlines future research directions aimed at overcoming these challenges. This includes strategies for improving the stability and reusability of MIECSs, enhancing their selectivity and sensitivity, and developing novel imprinting techniques. By addressing these issues, researchers can pave the way for the next generation of electrochemical sensors, which will be more robust, reliable, and suitable for a wide range of industrial and clinical applications.

Novel molecularly imprinted aerogels: Preparation, characterization, and application in selective separation for oleanolic acid in lingonberry

An oleanolic acid (OA) surface molecularly imprinted polymer silylated porous composite aerogels (OA-MIP@Si-PC-aerogels) adsorbent material was successfully prepared and characterized. The material not only has a great selectivity for the target molecule OA but also has other noteworthy qualities including high stability, excellent repeatability, and a sizable adsorption capacity. via cellulose and sodium alginate as the main materials, the carrier Si-PC-aerogels were made through ionic cross-linking, chemical cross-linking, and silylation procedures. By adopting a surface molecular imprinting approach on Si-PC-aerogels, OA-MIP@Si-PC-aerogels were effectively created utilizing OA as the template molecule and MAA as the functional monomer. Due to the presence of a specific imprinted layer on the aerogel surface, the adsorption capacity of OA-MIP@Si-PC-aerogels for OA could reach 66.20 mg g-1. OA-MIP@Si-PC-aerogels could achieve a 68.86% yield of OA from the extracts of lingonberry (Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea L.). The adsorption capacity remained at 90% after five consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles. HepG2 cells were exposed to OA that was effectively enriched with OA-MIP@Si-PC-aerogels in lingonberry (Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea L.) fruit homogenates. This OA significantly inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells in vitro. It further demonstrated that OA-MIP@Si-PC-aerogels could efficiently target OA enrichment and separation with good recovery.

A cellulose-based intelligent temperature-sensitive molecularly imprinted aerogel reactor for specific recognition and enrichment of ursolic acid

In this article, thermosensitive molecularly imprinted polymer and composite aerogel were combined for the first time to create an intelligent temperature-responsive aerogel reactor to effectively enrich ursolic acid (UA). Because aerogel carrier had a higher specific surface area and higher porosity compared to other carriers, the ursolic acid molecularly imprinted intelligent temperature responsive aerogel reactor (ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP) demonstrated a higher adsorption capacity for UA. More notably, ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP have the extraordinary capacity to spontaneously adsorb-desorb target molecule UA by regulating the reaction temperature. The ratio of the target molecule UA to the functional monomer and crosslinker in the grafting process and external influences had a major impact on how ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP were prepared overall. When the molar ratio of UA to 4-VP was 1:8, the weight ratio between ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP and EGDMA/DVB was 1:2:10, the reaction temperature was 60 °C, and the ambient pH = 6, the material showed the best adsorption capacity, reaching a peak of about 70 mg g-1. After researching the appropriate synthesis conditions, ITR&AR(G570)&UA-MIP were applied to lingonberry (Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea L.) berry extracts in this work. The outcomes show that this technique provides a new, intelligent, temperature-controlled adsorption material for the solid-phase extraction of triterpenoid acids in natural products, with good specific adsorption performance for the target molecule UA.

A high-performance SERS imprinted membrane based on Ag/CNTs for selective detection of spiramycin

In this test, the eggshell membrane (ESM) is selected as the support membrane for the biocompatibility and anchors CNTs on the surface to increase the mechanical properties. Then Ag NPs are decorated on CNTs-ESM substrate as SERS substrate by twice in-situ reduction. Finally, a layer of imprinted polymers is coated on the surface of the substrate to synthesize the imprinted membrane for selective detection of spiramycin. It is exhibited from the characteristic results that the CNTs significantly increase the mechanical properties and the detection sensitivity, simultaneously. When the concentration of SP changes between 10^-6 ∼ 10^-11 M, there is a linear relationship between SERS intensity and SP concentration. The detection limit is 10^-11 M, and the correlation coefficient R² is 0.9864. The SERS imprinted membrane can be applied into the detection of antibiotics in practical sample, which broadens the research field of antibiotics detection.

Molecularly-Imprinted SERS: A Potential Method for Bioanalysis

The most challenging step in developing bioanalytical methods is finding the best sample preparation method. The matrix interference effect of biological sample become a reason of that. Molecularly imprinted SERS become a potential analytical method to be developed to answer this challenge. In this article, we review recent progress in MIP SERS application particularly in bioanalysis. Begin with the explanation about molecular imprinting technique and component, SERS principle, the combination of MIP SERS, and follow by various application of MIP SERS for analysis. Finally, the conclusion and future perspective were also discussed.

Applications of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in environmental detection

As the human population grows, the anthropogenic impacts from various agricultural and industrial processes produce unwanted contaminants in the environment. The accurate, sensitive and rapid detection of such contaminants is vital for human health and safety. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a valuable analytical tool with wide applications in environmental contaminant monitoring. The aim of this review is to summarize recent advancements within SERS research as it applies to environmental detection, with a focus on research published or accessible from January 2021 through December 2021 including early-access publications. Our goal is to provide a wide breadth of information that can be used to provide background knowledge of the field, as well as inform and encourage further development of SERS techniques in protecting environmental quality and safety. Specifically, we highlight the characteristics of effective SERS nanosubstrates, and explore methods for the SERS detection of inorganic, organic, and biological contaminants including heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, plastic particles, synthetic dyes, pesticides, viruses, bacteria and mycotoxins. We also discuss the current limitations of SERS technologies in environmental detection and propose several avenues for future investigation. We encourage researchers to fill in the identified gaps so that SERS can be implemented in a real-world environment more effectively and efficiently, ultimately providing reliable and timely data to help and make science-based strategies and policies to protect environmental safety and public health.

An electrochemical molecularly imprinted sensor based on CuBi2O4/rGO@MoS2 nanocomposite and its utilization for highly selective and sensitive for linagliptin assay

The molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) is an outstanding electrochemical tool that demonstrates good chemical sensitivity and stability. These main advantages, coupled with the material's vast microfabrication flexibility, make molecularly imprinted sensors an attractive sensing device. Herein, it was aimed to develop a state-of-art molecularly imprinted sensor based on CuBi₂O₄/rGO@MoS₂ nanocomposite to be utilized for the detection of linagliptin (LNG), a novel hypoglycemic drug. The electrochemical characterizations of linagliptin on the surface of the modified electrode was examined via cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Several characterization methods including transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX), were utilized for electrode characterization. The LNG imprinted voltammetric sensor was developed in 80.0 mM phenol containing 20.0 mM LNG. CuBi₂O₄/rGO@MoS₂ nanocomposite on LNG imprinted screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) (MIP/CuBi₂O₄/rGO@MoS₂ nanocomposite/SCPE) exhibited a linear relationship between peak current and LNG concentration in the range 0.07-0.5 nM with a detection limit of 0.057 nM. In the existence of interfering substances, an LNG imprinted electrode was utilized to analyze urine, human plasma, and tablet samples with adequate selectivity. The developed sensor was also illustrated for stability, repeatability, reproducibility, and reusability.

Construction of a HPLC-SERS hyphenated system for continuous separation and detection based on paper substrates

The HPLC-SERS hyphenated system exhibited the complementary capability of on-line separation and continuous structural identification. It was extended to the application in identifying the illegally added hypoglycemic drugs in the practical dietary supplements.