Fingerprinting Biogenic Aldehydes through Pattern Recognition Analyses of Excitation-Emission Matrices

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Biogenic carbonyls, particularly aldehydes, show promise as early disease biomarkers.
• Current diagnostic methods lack rapid, point-of-care capabilities for specific aldehyde identification.
• Distinguishing individual aldehydes offers more specific diagnostic information than total aldehyde levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel fluorophore for catalyst-free complexation with biogenic carbonyls.
• To establish a rapid and simple point-of-care method for aldehyde identification.
• To create an algorithm for analyzing fluorescent fingerprints to identify specific carbonyls.

Main Methods:

• A novel fluorophore was synthesized to react with biogenic carbonyls, forming fluorescent hydrazones.
• Excitation-emission matrices were analyzed using principal curvature analysis to simplify spectral data.
• A pattern-matching routine was applied to the simplified data for carbonyl identification.

Main Results:

• The fluorophore successfully formed fluorescent complexes with biogenic carbonyls under catalyst-free conditions.
• A novel algorithm accurately identified specific carbonyls from a range of concentrations.
• The algorithm successfully parsed components from mixtures of carbonyls.
• The method demonstrated potential for disease-specific diagnostic information.

Conclusions:

• The developed fluorophore and algorithm enable rapid, specific identification of biogenic carbonyls.
• This approach lays the foundation for low-cost, point-of-care diagnostic tools.
• Chemometric applications can significantly advance diagnostic capabilities for various diseases and injuries.