Cysteamine triggered "turn-on" fluorescence sensor for total detection of fumonisin B₁, B₂ and B₃

A "turn-on" fluorescence sensor was developed for total detection of fumonisin B₁, B₂ and B₃ (FB₁, FB₂ and FB₃) in maize samples. Rhodamine B isothiocyanate (RBITC) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were employed as the energy donor-acceptor pairs. The intensity of restored fluorescence was inversely proportional to the concentration of the FBs. The limit of detection (LOD) of the sensor for FB₁ was 23.80 pg/mL. The coefficient of variation (CV) was both less than 7% for intra- and inter-assay. The linear range was from 51.39 to 2125.92 pg/mL. The average recoveries of FBs from maize samples were ranged from 88.7% to 107.2%. The correlation coefficient of the results between the developed sensor and LC-MS/MS was 0.9970. To fulfill the procedure of the assay, only 46 min was needed. These results suggest that the fluorescence "turn-on" sensor has great potential applications in the analysis of FBs in maize samples.