An ultrasensitive and selective fluorescence assay for Sudan I and III against the influence of Sudan II and IV.

We report on an ultrasensitive and selective fluorescence assay for Sudan I and III against the influence of Sudan II and IV based on ligand exchange mechanism. Calcein as a fluorescence indicator and Sudan I-IV as model analytes were employed to investigate the analytical feature of this assay platform. Results show that the fluorescence of calcein can be efficiently quenched by Cu(II). When the ligand exchange reaction proceeds, calcein is deprived of Cu(II) by Sudan I and III, resulting in the fluorescence recovery of calcein. However, the ligand exchange reaction does not happen in the presence of Sudan II or IV due to the 2-methyl steric effects, which is favorable for selective determination of Sudan I and III against the influence of Sudan II and IV. It was found that the fluorescence enhancement efficiency (FEE) against the concentration of Sudan (c(Sudan), nmol L⁻¹) shows a linear relationship. The calibration equations are FEE(Sudan I)=0.0032 c(Sudan I)-0.02613, and FEE(Sudan III)=0.0033 c(Sudan III)-0.02467 over the corresponding linear range of 11.25-2078.29 and 9.44-1035.78 nmol L⁻¹ with the correlation coefficients (R(2)) of 0.9984 and 0.9955, respectively. And the detection limits (3σ/slope) are calculated to be 211.3 and 208.5 pmol L⁻¹ for Sudan I and III, respectively, showing ultralow detection limit. The Sudan dye in a commercial chilli powder sample was assayed with satisfactory results.

Fast and sensitive dye-sensor based on fluorescein/reduced graphene oxide complex.

We report on a fast, sensitive, label-free, and general dye-sensor platform for synthetic organic dyes detection by competitive adsorption on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) against a fluorescent dye (FD). Fluorescein (Fl) as fluorescence indicator and a cationic dye methylene blue (MB) as model analyte were employed to investigate the analytical feature of this assay platform. An anionic dye sunset yellow FCF (SY) was chosen as a comparison analyte to test the generality of this strategy. Results show that rGO can bind Fl and quench the fluorescence by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), while MB can displace Fl quickly from the Fl/rGO complex by competitive adsorption, inducing the fluorescence recovery which provides a quantitative readout for MB. Besides, this design was simply based on the competitive adsorption of rGO between dye and FD, and can be generally applied to other dyes for label-free detection. The fluorescence enhancement efficiency (FEE) is proportional to the dye concentration over the range of 7.60-420.00 ng mL(-1) MB and 7.28-400.25 ng mL(-1) SY, respectively. The linear regression equations were calculated as FEE(MB) = 0.0192c(MB)- 0.3103 for MB and FEE(SY) = 0.0142 c(SY)- 0.0427 for SY, with the detection limits of 1.03 and 1.15 ng mL(-1), respectively. The MB in waste water and SY in an orange-flavored sports drink sample were assayed with satisfactory results.

Sensitive turn-on fluorescent detection of tartrazine based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer.

We introduce a sensitive, rapid, label-free and general fluorescent method for the determination of tartrazine by competitive binding to reduced graphene oxide (rGO) against fluorescein, and the fluorescence recovery upon fluorescein desorption from rGO provides a quantitative readout for tartrazine, giving a detection limit of 0.53 ng mL(-1).