Self-ratiometric fluorescence approach based on plant extract-assisted synthesized silver nanoparticles for the determination of vanillin

• Published in: Mikrochimica acta (1966) Vol. 191; no. 1; p. 16
• Main Authors: El Hamd, Mohamed A., El-Maghrabey, Mahmoud, Almawash, Saud, El-Shaheny, Rania, Magdy, Galal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01-01-2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Blood plasma; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Fluorescence; Humans; Infants; Metal Nanoparticles; Microengineering; Nanochemistry; Nanoparticles; Nanosensors; Nanotechnology; Original Paper; Plant Extracts; Reducing agents; Silver; Synthesis; Vanillin; Ratiometric fluorescence probe; Food and milk analysis; Vanillin; Plasma analysis; Silver nanoparticles; Tailed pepper
• ISSN: 0026-3672; 1436-5073
• DOI: 10.1007/s00604-023-06093-3

The current study designed and applied a novel self-ratiometric fluorescent nanosensor composed of green-synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) to determine vanillin in adult and infant foods and human plasma. A straightforward microwave-assisted approach is proposed for synthesizing Ag-NPs in less than 1 min using a reducing agent,
tailed pepper
seed extract. The synthesized Ag-NPs had a strong fluorescence with an intense emission band at 360 nm and a shoulder peak at 430 nm when excited at 265 nm. Upon interaction with vanillin, the fluorescence peak of Ag-NPs at 360 nm decreases in a concentration-dependent manner while being shifted to a longer wavelength, 385 nm. Meanwhile, the shoulder fluorescence peak at 430 nm is only slightly affected by vanillin addition. Thus, a new Ag-NP self-ratiometric probe was designed and validated for vanillin determination using the peak at 385 nm and the shoulder peak at 430 as two built-in reference peaks. The optimized system accurately measured vanillin with a detection limit of 9.0 ng/mL and a linear range of 0.05–8.0 μg/mL without needing pre-derivatization or high-cost instrumentation. The method successfully measured vanillin in adult and infant milk formula, biscuits, and human plasma samples with high percentage recoveries (95.3–104.6%) and excellent precision (relative SD; ≤3.85%).
Graphical abstract