Disposable paper strips for carboxylate discrimination

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Carboxylate anion detection is crucial in various scientific fields.
• Existing methods for carboxylate differentiation can be complex and costly.
• Development of simple, disposable, and sensitive detection systems is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a paper-based sensing platform for differentiating carboxylate anions.
• To utilize a fluorescent sensing system composed of a poly(amidoamine) dendrimer and a fluorophore.
• To assess the performance and stability of the developed sensor.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of sensor strips by depositing a [calcein·dendrimer] complex onto paper supports.
• Loading carboxylate solutions onto the sensor spots for analysis.
• Detection of fluorescence changes using plate reader instrumentation.
• Data analysis via Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) for anion discrimination.

Main Results:

• The sensor successfully differentiated most carboxylate anions based on nuanced fluorescence changes.
• Chromatography paper demonstrated the most promising results as a support material.
• The [calcein·dendrimer] sensing system exhibited excellent long-term stability on paper.

Conclusions:

• The developed paper-based sensor provides a viable method for carboxylate anion differentiation.
• The sensor's design allows for detection using standard instrumentation.
• This approach offers a stable, disposable, and sensitive platform for carboxylate analysis.