Integration of a hamper pad on test strips for improved sensitivity of carbendazim detection

Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) are widely used to determine carbendazim (CBZ) residues in food products due to their advantages of low cost, ease and rapid use, on-site detection capability. However, conventional LFIAs have low detection sensitivity. Although improvements have been made to increase the sensitivity, it is not sufficient. Here, a hamper pad, polyvinyl alcohol coated on a nitrocellulose membrane, was integrated to enhance the sensitivity of LFIA for CBZ detection. The hamper pad was inserted between the conjugated and nitrocellulose pads to delay the flow rate, thereby increasing the possibility of the antibody and target analyte binding. This platform exhibited a fourfold sensitivity increase in CBZ detection compared with the conventional LFIA, and its limit of detection was 1.6 ng/mL. In addition, a single-step operation was successfully applied to detect CBZ in rice (white rice, brown rice, sticky rice, and paddy) and soybean samples, with acceptable recoveries of 93.6%-120.0%. This novel device was compared to the standard high-performance liquid chromatography method, which shows high accuracy with a Kappa coefficient of 0.91. Therefore, improved sensitivity with a rapid, simple, and inexpensive device could facilitate the detection of CBZ residues in agricultural products for on-field screening and improved user-friendliness.

Sensitive determination of Ag, Bi, Cd, Hg, Pb, Tl, and Zn by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry combined with the microplasma-assisted vapor generation

A technique of vapor generation assisted by a microplasma was used for sample introduction into inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). Replacing a pneumatic nebulizer with a novel microplasma device improved the sensitivities of analytical signals for Ag, Bi, Cd, Pb, Tl, and Zn (by 2-13 times), as well as a concomitant reduction in their detection limits (DLs). Moreover, an outstanding improvement (30-fold) was achieved for Hg. The factors contributing to the boosted signal intensities were higher analyte fluxes and less water vapor produced by the microplasma system. The DLs of Ag, Bi, Cd, Hg, Pb, Tl, and Zn in microplasma-ICP OES were 0.4, 4, 0.06, 0.2, 2, 5, and 0.2 μg L^-1, respectively, and the measurement precision was within the range of 0.7-2.4% (it was significantly improved as compared to that achievable with pneumatic nebulization). The proposed microplasma-assisted vapor generation eliminates the use of toxic reductants, e.g., sodium tetrahydridoborate, and it is characterized by higher resistance to matrix effects from transition metal ions (as compared to chemical vapor generation (CVG) and photochemical vapor generation (PVG)). To validate the trueness of the SAGD-ICP OES method, certified reference materials of lobster hepatopancreas (TORT-2), cormorant tissue (MODAS-4) as well as spiked tap water and seawater samples were analyzed to determine levels Cd and Hg. The standard additions method was used for calibration in both cases. Recoveries of the analytes in the case of the analysis of TORT-2 and MODAS-4 samples as well as the spiked tap water and seawater was within the range of 98-113%, which indicated that the developed sample introduction system can be successfully used for very sensitive determinations of selected hazardous elements in environmental samples.

Mirror symmetric broadband homodecoupled perfect echo spectroscopy

A new experiment for recording phase sensitive ω₁-broadband homodecoupled TOCSY spectra is presented. The method is an extension of the already existing perfect echo (PE) filter, proposed to sample t₁ chemical shift under sustained homodecoupling. The modification is made by attaching a time reversed perfect echo filter to a regular perfect echo scheme. Thus it becomes possible to acquire for longer t₁ acquisition times without compromising the quality of homodecoupling. The mirror symmetric double perfect echo is implemented into the evolution period of a TOCSY experiment. A spin lock pulse purges undesired dispersive antiphase components at the end of the central t₁ evolution period. Pure absorptive lineshapes with reduced proton spin multiplicities are obtained. The approach can be used in conjunction with real or constant time chemical shift evolution. In case of compounds with reduced T₂ relaxation time, the real time approach is advisable, where the echo delays are an extension of the t₁ evolution period. In this way, an unnecessary loss due to T₂ relaxation is avoided. Using the pulse sequence in constant time mode at high t_1max values gives ω₁-homodecoupled TOCSY spectra without a significant dependence of the transfer amplitude on J. All experiments were carried out using non uniform sampling to decrease the measurement time. Experimental setup, advantages and limitations are discussed.

Photothermal enhancement in sensitivity of lateral flow assays for detection of E-coli O157:H7

Lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) is a well-known point-of-care technology for the detection of various analytes. However, low sensitivity and lack of quantitative results are some of its critical drawbacks. Here we report a photothermal enhanced lateral flow sensor on the basis of the photothermal properties of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for the detection of E-coli O157:H7 as a model pathogen. The calibration curve of the photothermal method exhibited a linear range from 5 × 10⁵ to 5 × 10⁷ CFU/ml with a correlation coefficient of R² = 0.96 and a regression equation of y = 8.1x-43 for standard bacteria solutions in phosphate buffer. The limit of detection was ∼5 × 10⁵ CFU/ml for standard bacteria solutions, which was a 10-fold enhancement in sensitivity compared to the qualitative results. Specificity experiments showed that the photothermal method can only detect the target bacteria among 6 types of bacteria strains. It was confirmed that the developed technique could be a highly potential method for the rapid detection field because it can provide fast quantitative results with improved sensitivity.

PE-SERF: A sensitivity-improved experiment to measure JHH in crowded spectra

Aiming at facilitating the analysis of molecular structure, the gradient-encoded selective refocusing methods (G-SERF) and a great number of its variants for measuring proton-proton coupling constants have been proposed. However, the sensitivity is an issue in the 2D gradient-encoded experiments, because the signal intensity is determined by the slice thickness of the sample that depends on encoding gradient and the bandwidth of selective pulses which is limited by the smallest chemical shift difference of any two coupled protons. Here, we present a method dubbed PE-SERF (perfect echo selective refocusing) which can determine all J_HH values involving a selected proton with improved sensitivity compared to original G-SERF experiment. The modules of perfect echo involving selective pulses and gradient-encoded selective refocusing are combined in the method, so that the unwanted J couplings arising from coupled spin pairs in the same sample slice would be nullified. In this way, instead of single proton, a pair of coupled protons is allowed to share a sample slice, and thus the slice thickness can be increased and the spectral sensitivity can be improved. The performance of the method is demonstrated by experiments on quinine and strychnine.

Colorimetric determination of copper(II) by using branched-polyethylenimine droplet evaporation on a superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic micropatterned surface

A colorimetric method is described for the determination of Cu(II). It is based on branched polyethylenimine (BPEI) droplet evaporation on a superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic polystyrene micropatterned surface. Exposure to Cu(II) leads to a color change from colorless to light blue and dark blue. The micropatterned surface was fabricated via combining electrospinning with oxygen plasma and served as a detection substrate. Analysis requires only a single drop of blood. The method has a linear response in the 5.0 μM to 2.5 mM Cu(II) concentration range which is within the physiological range (15.7 ∼ 23.6 μM). Compared to an assay in solution, the detection limit is decreased from 386 nM to 89 nM. Excellent selectivity over other metal ions and anions was achieved. Graphical abstract A rapid and sensitive colorimetric detection platform for Cu(II) was fabricated by using branched-polyethylenimine droplet evaporation on a superhydrophilic-superhydrophobic micropatterned surface. Only a single drop of blood was needed for the analysis. The sensitivity was improved about 4.3 times.

Recent contributions for improving sensitivity in chiral CE

The flexibility and versatility of the chiral CE are unrivaled and the same instrumentation can be used to separate a diverse range of analytes, both large and small molecules, whether charged or uncharged. However, one of the disadvantages is generally thought to be the poor sensitivity of ultraviolet (UV) detection, which is the most popular among CE detectors. This review focuses on methodologies and applications regarding improvements of sensitivity in chiral CE published in the last 2 years (June 2015 until May 2017). This contribution continues to update this series of biannual reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2006. The main body of the review brings a survey of publications organized according to different approaches to detect a low amount of analytes, either by sample treatment procedures or by in-capillary sample preconcentration techniques, both using UV detection, or even by employing detection systems more sensitive than UV absorption, such as LIF or MS. This review provides comprehensive tables listing the new approaches in sensitive chiral CE with categorizing by the fundamental mechanism to enhance the sensitivity, which provide relevant information on the strategies employed. The concluding remarks in the final part of the review evaluate present state of art and the trends for sensitivity enhancement in chiral CE.

Implementing homo- and heterodecoupling in region-selective HSQMBC experiments

An NMR method to enhance the sensitivity and resolution in band-selective long-range heteronuclear correlation spectra is proposed. The excellent in-phase nature of the selHSQMBC experiment allows that homonuclear and/or heteronuclear decoupling can be achieved in the detected dimension of a 2D multiple-bond correlation map, obtaining simplified cross-peaks without their characteristic fine J multiplet structure. The experimental result is a resolution improvement while the highest sensitivity is also achieved. Specifically, it is shown that the (1)H-homodecoupled band-selective (HOBS) HSQMBC experiment represents a new way to measure heteronuclear coupling constants from the simplified in-phase doublets generated along the detected dimension.