A portable digital optical kanamycin sensor developed by surface-anchored liquid crystal droplets

Fangchao Yin; Supan Cheng; Shuya Liu; Chunxia Ma; Li Wang; Rusong Zhao; Jin-Ming Lin; Qiongzheng Hu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126601

A portable digital optical kanamycin sensor developed by surface-anchored liquid crystal droplets

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Oct 15:420:126601. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126601. Epub 2021 Jul 7.

Authors

Fangchao Yin¹, Supan Cheng¹, Shuya Liu², Chunxia Ma¹, Li Wang³, Rusong Zhao², Jin-Ming Lin⁴, Qiongzheng Hu⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250014, PR China; Key Laboratory for Applied Technology of Sophisticated Analytical Instrument of Shandong Province, Shandong Analysis and Test Center, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan 250014, PR China.
² Key Laboratory for Applied Technology of Sophisticated Analytical Instrument of Shandong Province, Shandong Analysis and Test Center, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan 250014, PR China.
³ School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, PR China.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory of Microanalytical Methods and Instrumentation, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
⁵ School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250014, PR China; Key Laboratory for Applied Technology of Sophisticated Analytical Instrument of Shandong Province, Shandong Analysis and Test Center, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Science), Jinan 250014, PR China. Electronic address: huqz@qlu.edu.cn.

PMID: 34265652
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126601

Abstract

There is an increase in demand to develop simple, convenient, and low-cost approaches for rapid and label-free detection of antibiotics. Herein, we propose a new principle for the detection of kanamycin using the surface-anchored liquid crystal (LC) droplets. The optical images of the LC droplets uniformly change from four-clover, uniformly dark, and dark cross appearance gradually with the increase of surfactant concentration. The detection of kanamycin is fulfilled with the aid of a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and a kanamycin aptamer. The LC droplets show uniformly dark appearance and four-clover appearance in the presence of the aqueous solutions of CTAB and CTAB/aptamer complex, respectively. However, the specific binding of kanamycin to its aptamer can release the CTAB, which induces the uniformly dark appearance of the LC droplets. A portable device is built to measure the optical luminance of the LC droplets. This system can detect kanamycin with a concentration below 0.1 ng/mL (~0.17 nM) and also allows the detection of kanamycin in real samples such as milk and honey. Therefore, it is very promising in the development of new types of LC-based sensors by the surface-anchored LC droplets assisted with a portable optical device.

Keywords: Aptamer; Kanamycin; Liquid crystal droplet; Luminance; Sensor.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Kanamycin
Liquid Crystals*
Milk
Surface-Active Agents

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Surface-Active Agents
Kanamycin