As a foodborne bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes (LM) can cause serious diseases and even death to weak people. 3-Hydroxy-2-butanone (3H-2B) has been proven to be a biomarker for exhalation of LM. Detection of 3H-2B is a fast and effective method for determining whether the food is infected. Herein, we present an excellent 3H-2B gas sensor based on bimetallic PtCu nanocrystal modified WO 3 hollow spheres. The structure and morphology of the PtCu/WO 3 were characterized, and their gas sensitivities were measured by a static testing method. The results showed that the sensor response of WO 3 hollow spheres was enhanced by about 15 times after modification with bimetallic PtCu nanocrystal. The maximum response value of the PtCu/WO 3 sensor to 10 ppm 3H-2B is as high as 221.2 at 110 °C. In addition, the PtCu/WO 3 sensor also exhibited good selectivity to 3H-2B, fast response/recovery time (9 s/28 s), and low limit of detection (LOD < 0.5 ppm). Furthermore, the sensitivity mechanism was studied by monitoring the reaction products by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry. The excellent gas-sensing performance can be attributed to the synergy between PtCu and WO 3 , including the unique spillover effect of O 2 on PtCu nanoparticles, the regulated depletion layer by p-type Cu x O to n-type WO 3 , and their selective catalysis to 3H-2B. Hence, this work offers the rational design and synthesis of highly efficient sensitive materials for the detection of LM for food security.
Inspired by the double helix structure of DNA, a simple enantioselective system based on chitosan (CS) was employed for electrochemical enantiorecognition of tryptophan (Trp) isomers. The recognition mechanism was proposed from the supramolecular point of view, which was further verified by the recognition of Trp isomers with sulfonated CS (SCS). The SCS-based chiral system presented the ability of indicating the percentage of d-Trp in racemic mixture, extending future applications of the electrochemical chiral system based on natural polysaccharides.
Polysaccharides of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and chitosan (CS) were integrated together via amidation reactions between the carboxyl groups on sodium CMC and the amino groups on CS. Compared with individual sodium CMC and CS, the integrated polysaccharides with a mass ratio of 1:1, CMC-CS (1:1), exhibited a three-dimensional (3D) porous network structure, resulting in a significantly enhanced hydrophility due to the exposed polar functional groups in the CMC-CS (1:1). Chiral interfaces were constructed with the integrated polysaccharides and used for electrochemical enantiorecognition of tryptophan (Trp) isomers. The CMC-CS (1:1) chiral interfaces exhibited excellent selectivity toward the Trp isomers owing to the highly hydrophilic feature of CMC-CS (1:1) and the different steric hindrance during the formation of H bonds between Trp isomers and CMC-CS (1:1). Also, the optimization in the preparation of integrated polysaccharides such as mass ratio and combination mode (amidation or electrostatic interactions) was investigated. The CMC-CS (1:1) presented the ability of determining the percentage of d-Trp in racemic mixtures, and thus, the proposed electrochemical chiral interfaces could be regarded as a potential biosensing platform for enantiorecognition of chiral compounds.
Construction of convenient systems for isomer discrimination is of great importance for medical and life sciences. Here, we report a simple and effective chiral sensing device based on a highly ordered self-assembly framework. Cu-modified β-cyclodextrin (Cu-β-CD) was self-assembled to the ammonia-ethanol cotreated chitosan (ae-CS), and the highly ordered framework was gradually formed during the "re-growth" process of the shrinked ae-CS films. Tryptophan (Trp) isomers were well discriminated with the highly ordered framework by electrochemical approach. This study is the first example showing how an ordered structure influences chiral recognition.
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