Aggregation-Induced Electrochemiluminescence Immunosensor Based on 9,10-Diphenylanthracene Cubic Nanoparticles for Ultrasensitive Detection of Aflatoxin B₁

Abstract

9,10-Diphenylanthracene cubic nanoparticles (DPA CNPs) with aggregation-induced emission characteristic (AIEgens) were synthesized through a facile reprecipitation method; then, a bright and stable electrochemiluminescence (ECL) signal can be observed when the DPA CNPs were modified at the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in the presence of Tri-n-propylamine (TPA). This phenomenon is ascribed to the molecules with restricted movement that greatly blocked the energy leakage during the relaxation of the excited state, which facilitated the emission of energy in the form of photons. In addition, the size confinement effect of DPA CNPs in the aggregated state effectively enhanced the ECL emission. The application of DPA CNPs with AIE characteristics in an electrochemiluminescence immunosensor has not been reported. In this contribution, a free-label aggregation-induced electrochemiluminescence immunosensor based on DPA CNPs was fabricated and a simple strategy for ultrasensitive detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was proposed. The ECL signal is quenched linearly in the range of 0.01 pg/mL to 100 ng/mL for AFB1, and the detection limit is 3 fg/mL. In summary, the prepared sensor exhibits high sensitivity, acceptable accuracy, good anti-interference ability and stability, and satisfactory detection toward AFB1 in walnut samples. Therefore, the fabricated immunosensor will have significant applications in the fields of food, medicine, and so on.

Recent advances in aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based chemosensors for the detection of organic small molecules

“…Fang et al prepared AIE-active cubic NPs from the reprecipitation of 9,10-diphenylanthracene, which was used to fabricate ECL-based AFB 1 sensor over glassy carbon electrode (GCE), after functionalizing with PEI, and then AFB 1 -antibody and BSA via glutaraldehyde cross-linker. 331 In the presence of tripropylamine (TPrA), a strong ECL signal at 460 nm could be registered but the selective binding of AFB 1 to the antibody led to the gradual decrease in ECL due to protein quenching effect on the NPs’ fluorescence. Li, Tang, and Zhang et al developed a lateral flow biosensor ( C100 ) to simultaneously detect mycotoxins AFB 1 and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) in food samples within 8 minutes.…”

Electrochemiluminescent sensor based on an aggregation-induced emission probe for bioanalytical detection

“…Thus, a free-label sensor was prepared based on DPA CNPs, and acceptable detection was realized. 114…”

Aggregation-Induced Emission in Electrochemiluminescence: Advances and Perspectives

“…One of the first observations of ECL involved 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA) as luminophore [6]; recently, DPA cubic NPs (CNPs) have been exploited for the construction of an AIECL immunosensor for the detection of the mycotoxin aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) [63]. The authors observed an important increase of the ECL signal when the DPA CNPs were deposited on the GCE surface in comparison with the signal observed when the NPs were dispersed in the solution.…”