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A green, simple, and cost effective electrochemical method to synthesize pure graphene oxide (GO) and graphene nanosheets (GNs) using pencil in ionic liquid medium is reported. The morphology and microstructure of prepared GNs and GO are examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy; the experiments confirm the formation of high quality graphene. The synthesized GO is used for the real‐time and label‐free surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing of the biological warfare agent Salmonella typhi.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salt that exist in the liquid phase at and around 298 K and are comprised of a bulky, asymmetric organic cation and the anion usually inorganic ion but some ILs also with organic anion. ILs have attracted much attention as a replacement for traditional organic solvents as they possess many attractive properties. Among these properties, intrinsic ion conductivity, low volatility, high chemical and thermal stability, low combustibility, and wide electrochemical windows are few. Due to negligible or nonzero volatility of these solvents, they are considered “greener” for the environment as they do not evaporate like volatile organic compounds (VOCs). ILs have been widely used in electrodeposition, electrosynthesis, electrocatalysis, electrochemical capacitor, lubricants, plasticizers, solvent, lithium batteries, solvents to manufacture nanomaterials, extraction, gas absorption agents, and so forth. Besides a brief discussion of the introduction, history, and properties of ILs the major purpose of this review paper is to provide an overview on the advantages of ILs for the synthesis of conducting polymer and nanoparticle when compared to conventional media and also to focus on the electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on IL/composite modified macrodisk electrodes. Subsequently, recent developments and major strategies for enhancing sensing performance are discussed.

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Staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) is one of the most prevalent causes of food-borne illness throughout the world. SFP is caused by 21 different types of staphylococcal enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus. Among these, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is the most potent toxin and is a listed biological warfare (BW) agent. Therefore, development of immunological reagents for detection of SEB is of the utmost importance. High-affinity and specific monoclonal antibodies are being used for detection of SEB, but hybridoma clones tend to lose their antibody-secreting ability over time. This problem can be overcome by the use of recombinant antibodies produced in a bacterial system. In the present investigation, genes from a hybridoma clone encoding monoclonal antibody against SEB were immortalized using antibody phage display technology. A murine phage display library containing single-chain variable-fragment (ScFv) antibody genes was constructed in a pCANTAB 5E phagemid vector. Phage particles displaying ScFv were rescued by reinfection of helper phage followed by four rounds of biopanning for selection of SEB binding ScFv antibody fragments by using phage enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Soluble SEB-ScFv antibodies were characterized from one of the clones showing high affinity for SEB. The anti-SEB ScFv antibody was highly specific, and its affinity constant was 3.16 nM as determined by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). These results demonstrate that the recombinant antibody constructed by immortalizing the antibody genes from a hybridoma clone is useful for immunodetection of SEB.Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most prevalent causative agents of food-borne illness throughout the world. The illness occurs following ingestion of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) produced by S. aureus in the contaminated food. The symptoms of food poisoning include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. Twenty-one different types of SEs, i.e., staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) to staphylococcal enterotoxin E (SEE) and staphylococcal enterotoxin G (SEG) to staphylococcal enterotoxin V (SEV), have already been discovered (33, 40). The immunomodulatory effects of SEs, such as immunosuppression, enhancement of endotoxic shock, and induction of cytokine release, can be attributed to the fact that SEs are potent T-cell mitogens. The ability of SEs to induce proliferation of T cells is somewhat similar to conventional antigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules to T-cell receptors (TCRs). However, unlike conventional antigens, the T-cell mitogenicity of SEs does not require antigen processing and lacks the normal specificity to the TCR for specific epitopes in response to conventional antigens. This bypass of normal TCR specificity for conventional T-cell epitopes results in the stimulation of a substantial proportion of the total T-cell population, and therefore, staphylococcal enterotoxins are referred to as superantigens. The stimulation of T cells leads to over...

Body protective clothing and suits against NBC agents are playing vital role in the NBC defence during war and training scenarios. Hence, reviewing about the past, present and expected future development in this NBC protective clothing area is an important task. This review brings out a sequence related to the NBC protective clothing, their type, various materials available for the development of NBC clothing, their evaluation procedures, washing methodologies, decontamination methods. Moreover, the futuristic trends in NBC protective clothing such as detection and decontamination integrated NBC protective clothing based on electrospun nanofiber technology and molecularly imprinted polymer technology are also reviewed and discussed.

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