A dual-mode ratiometric probe using europium-doped cyclen-functional carbon dots for fluorescent and point-of-care detection of tetracycline.

The overuse of tetracycline (TC) has led to the accumulation of antibiotic residues in drinking water and animal products, which can consequently lead to bacteria resistance and chronic disease in humans. Urgently addressing the need for a rapid, user-friendly, and point-of-care test for TC detection. In this work, we use cyclen and citric acid to synthesise carbon dots (CDs) with a unique ring-shaped structure on their surface and combine them with europium (Eu3+) to form an Eu-CDs fluorescent probe. In the presence of TC in aqueous systems, the Eu-CDs probe emits two distinctive fluorescent signals: the stable blue emission from cyclen-modified CDs and the red emission from Eu3+,showing a proportional increase with TC concentration. The developed Eu-CDs probe demonstrates accurate and selective detection capabilities for TC class antibiotics among various interfering factors. The Eu-CDs probe exhibits excellent linearity within the concentration range of 0.04-2.4 µM and achieves an impressive detection limit of 2.7 nM. Moreover, point-of-care Eu-CDs test strips are designed, allowing convenient on-site TC analysis through the detection of a colour change from blue to red under a portable UV light. The results highlight the effectiveness of the proposed dual-mode ratiometric fluorescent Eu-CDs probe and test strips, offering a practical point-of-care testing strategy for real-world TC detection applications.

On-line concentration sample stacking coupled with water-in-oil microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography.

This study describes for the first time, the ability of a normal stacking mode (NSM) on-line concentration step coupled with water-in-oil (W/O) microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC), using six common penicillin antibiotics (oxacillin, penicillin V, penicillin G, nafcillin, ampicillin, and amoxicillin) as test analytes. Optimization of penicillin separation in the conventional W/O MEEKC system demonstrated that change in the type and concentration of the oil phase (1-butanol) and column temperature had a pronounced effect on the separation. With the subsequent development of the NSM coupled with W/O MEEKC, improved separation and detection sensitivities were observed when an organic solvent plug (1-propanol; 1.04 cm) was placed between the W/O microemulsion and the sample solutions. This could be attributed to the solution viscosity difference between the aqueous sample zone and the organic solvent plug causing the penicillin to be stacked in this 1-propanol plug. The optimal NSM W/O MEEKC provided about 12-fold increase in detection sensitivity compared with conventional sample injection (50 mbar, 3 s). Finally, this proposed method was successfully applied in the analyses of several food samples (porcine organs) spiked with penicillin.

Determination of melamine and related triazine by-products ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid by micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

In this study, micellar electrokinetic chromatographic (MEKC) methods were developed for the detection of traces of melamine and its related by-products (ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid). Two on-line sample concentration steps namely reversed electrode polarity stacking mode (REPSM) and cation-selective injection (CSI) were used for improving the detection sensitivity. For REPSM, a borate-NaOH buffer (pH 10, 35 mM) composed of 60 mM SDS and 10% (v/v) methanol, was used as carrier electrolyte, and samples were prepared in an aqueous solution of 10 mM NaOH. In CSI, a phosphate buffer (pH 2, 50 mM) containing 41 mM SDS was used as the carrier electrolyte, and samples were prepared with an aqueous solution of 10 mM NaOH and a phosphate buffer (pH 2.0, 25 mM) in a volume ratio of 1:9. The results indicated that REPSM enhanced all analyte signals except for melamine, which could be concentrated only by the CSI. The detection limit was reduced from 1.7 mg L(-1) to 2.8 microg L(-1) for melamine by the optimal CSI step, and from 0.23-1.2 mg L(-1) to 2.4-5.0 microg L(-1) for the other three analytes by the optimal REPSM step. Tableware made of melamine and samples of flour were used as test samples, and the results indicated that the proposed MEKC methods can successfully determine contaminations from melamine. The study also indicated that when the plastic made of melamine was exposed only once to an acidic solution (acetic or phosphoric acid) at 80 degrees C for 30 min, melamine continuously leached out from the test sample even without any further treatment with an acidic solution.

Analyses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in environmental water samples with microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography.

In this study, a microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) was used to analyze ten non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in water samples. The type and ratio of organic modifiers were found to be the predominant influences on the NSAIDs separation. Subsequently, field-amplified sample injection was coupled with this MEEKC method in order to enhance the detection sensitivity. When both the acid plug (3 s) and water plug (5 s) were placed at the front of the capillary, and the acetonitrile (ACN) solvent was added to the water plug (10% ACN) and the sample matrix (15% ACN), the separation time was shortened to 15 min, as well as the limit of detection (LOD) of these NSAIDs was reduced to the range of 0.03 to 0.3 microg/L, which provided about a 1400-fold to 6100-fold enhancement in LOD. Finally, the proposed on-line concentration MEEKC method also successfully determined the NSAIDs residues in water samples after solid-phase extraction.

Determination of eight penicillin antibiotics in pharmaceuticals, milk and porcine tissues by nano-liquid chromatography.

This study describes the ability of nanoscale liquid chromatography (nano-LC) coupled with UV or mass spectrometry (MS) for the simultaneous determination of eight common penicillin antibiotics (amoxicillin, ampicillin, penicillin G, penicillin V, oxacillin, cloxacillin, nafcillin and dicloxacillin) in commercial samples (pharmaceuticals, milk, porcine tissues (liver and kidney)) for the first time. Material types of the on-column polymeric frits (polystyrene-based and polymethacrylate-based monoliths) and the packed stationary phase materials (C8 and C18 particles of 3 microm) used in the nano-LC for the influence of penicillin separation were evaluated. The nano-LC and MS parameters such as the composition and flow rate of mobile phase, capillary voltage and temperature of dry gas were examined in order to acquire high separation resolution and detection sensitivity for penicillin analyses. Furthermore, a home-made in-line filter (a nylon membrane of 0.2 microm pore size), was first used to connect with the flow cell of high sensitivity UV detector or the nanoelectrospray needle in MS detection. The result indicated it could effectively improve the reproducibility of penicillin mass signals or prolong the lifetime of the flow cell. The nano-LC methods provided good quantitative precisions in the range of 89.5-111.2% for UV detection at 0.5 microg/mL penicillins, and 83. 1-94.9% for MS detection at 5 mcirog/L penicillins), respectively, as well as offered stable retention repeatabilities (the relative standard deviation (RSD) of retention time was lower 0.30% in both the UV and MS detections). Compared to other LC-MS methods, the proposed nano-LC systems provided better detection sensitivity for these penicillins (the limits of detection (LOD) was of 2.27-4.06 microg/L for UV mode, and 0.01-0.51 microg/L for MS mode) when either UV or MS detector was employed.

Sample stacking for determination of aromatic acid impurities by microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography.

In this study, a sample stacking step coupled with microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) was used to detect and analyze nine aromatic acids (benzoic acid (BA), isophthalic acid (IPA), terephthalic acid (TPA), p-toluic acid (p-TA), 4-carboxylbenzaldehyde (4-CBA), trimesic acid (TSA), trimellitic acid (TMA), o-phthalic acid (OPA), and hemimellitic acid (HMA)) which are common impurities produced during aromatic acid synthesis. First, the presence of both acid and water plugs at the front of the capillary improved the reproducibility in retention time and peak intensity of the tested analytes in the stacking method. Second, the pH and the electrolyte type of acidic plug and sample matrix were found to be the predominant influences on the aromatic acid stacking. The detection limits of these aromatic acids were reduced to the range of 0.00007-0.00032 microg mL(-1) by this optimal sample stacking step. This proposed on-line concentration MEEKC method was able to detect trace levels of aromatic acid impurities in commercial aromatic acid products that were not previously possible by the normal MEEKC method. Furthermore, these results in comparison with our previous studies on sample stacking MEEKC method indicated that all acidic species were concentrated by this simple stacking procedure. The sensitivity enhancement, however, was highly dependent on the types of functional groups present in the structures of analytes, and the enhancement was in the order of first the compounds carrying both carboxy and hydroxy groups (e.g. phenolic acid), followed by carboxylic acid compounds (e.g. aromatic acid), and then phenol compounds (e.g. polyphenol).

Sample stacking for the analysis of penicillins by microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography.

In this study, on-line sample concentration methods, which coupled field-amplified sample injection and sweeping technology with MEEKC, were used to detect and analyze eight common penicillin antibiotics (nafcillin, dicloxacillin, ampicillin, oxacillin, penicillin V, cloxacillin, penicillin G, and amoxicillin). During the optimization of field-amplified sample injection-sweeping MEEKC, the composition of sample matrix and the length of acidic plug were found to be the predominant influences for penicillin stacking. Both zwitterionic ampicillin and amoxicillin could only be stacked through cation-selective-exhaustive-injection sweeping, whereas the other six penicillin compounds were found to be concentrated by anion-selective-exhaustive-injection sweeping. Hence, in order to simultaneously concentrate the eight penicillins in a single-run sweeping step, a combination of successive anion- and cation-selective injections was used. When compared with previous CE-UV methods, the proposed on-line concentration MEEKC method provided better detection sensitivity and faster separation for these penicillins either in single ion-selective injection or in successive anion-/cation-selective injection where the LODs were in the range of 0.2-2.8 microg/L and 0.5-5.8 microg/L, respectively.

Analyses of tobacco alkaloids by cation-selective exhaustive injection sweeping microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography.

In this study, an on-line concentration method which coupled cation-selective exhaustive injection (CSEI) sweeping technology with microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) was used to detect and analyze several tobacco alkaloids (nornicotine, anabasine, anatabine, nicotine, myosmine and cotinine) that are commonly found in various tobacco products. First, the effects of microemulsion compositions (oil, cosurfactant and solution pH) were examined in order to optimize the alkaloid separations in conventional MEEKC. The pH value and the injection length of basic plug were found to be the predominant influences on the alkaloid stacking. This optimal CSEI sweeping MEEKC method provided approximately 180- to 540-fold increase in detection sensitivity in terms of peak height without any loss in separation efficiency when compared to normal MEEKC separation. Furthermore, this proposed CSEI sweeping MEEKC method was applied successfully for the detection of the minor alkaloids nornicotine, anabasine and anatabine in tobacco products.