Highly sensitive colorimetric and paper-based detection for sildenafil in functional food based on monodispersed...

Sildenafil (SIL) is regarded as an illegal adulterant in functional foods. Some functional foods doped with SIL have posed significant concern about their safety risks. However, the facile colorimetric detection of SIL is rarely investigated.

Herein, we prepared a monodispersed spherical composite nanozyme (Fe₃O₄-NH₂/GONRs), possessing excellent peroxidase-like (POD-like) and catalase-like (CAT-like) activities and strong superparamagnetic property. The enzyme-like activities of Fe₃O₄-NH₂/GONRs can be selectively inhibited by SIL due to the synergistic effect of hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking between Fe₃O₄-NH₂/GONRs and SIL. Leveraging this mechanism, a highly sensitive and selective colorimetric detection for SIL with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.26 ng/mL was developed. In addition, we prepared a three-dimensional paper-based analytical device (3D-PAD) for SIL colorimetric detection with naked-eyes and the semi-quantitative analysis with a LOD of 88 ng/mL.

The proposed colorimetric and PAD detections demonstrated the advantages of low-cost, highly sensitive and selective, thus have promise application potential in the rapid detection of adulterated functional foods.