Metal-organic frameworks based fluorescent sensor array for discrimination of flavonoids

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Chemical Sensing

Background:

• Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are emerging as promising fluorescent sensing materials.
• Distinguishing structurally similar drug analogues using MOF sensors remains a significant challenge.
• Array sensing, utilizing multiple sensors, offers a viable solution for complex mixture analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a fluorescent sensor array based on multiple luminescent MOFs for the analysis of flavonoids.
• To demonstrate the capability of MOF-based array sensing in discriminating between structurally similar compounds.
• To enable both qualitative and quantitative analysis of flavonoid samples.

Main Methods:

• Construction of a fluorescent sensor array using five distinct luminescent metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
• Application of response pattern analysis combined with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA).
• Integration with UV-visible spectroscopy for enhanced analysis.

Main Results:

• Successful discrimination of nine structurally similar flavonoids using the MOF sensor array.
• Demonstration of the array's ability to identify and quantify flavonoid samples.
• Achieved accurate classification and quantification even for samples with unknown concentrations.

Conclusions:

• The developed MOF-based fluorescent sensor array effectively distinguishes between multiple drug homologues.
• This work represents the first successful application of MOFs for distinguishing complex drug analogues.
• The array sensing approach combined with chemometric analysis provides a powerful tool for pharmaceutical analysis.