A paper-based chemical tongue based on the charge transfer complex of ninhydrin with an array of metal-doped carbon dots discriminates natural amino acids and several of their enantiomers.

Simultaneous detection of multiple amino acids (AAs) instead of individual AAs is inherently worthwhile for improving diagnostic accuracy in clinical applications. Here, a facile and reliable colorimetric microfluidic paper-based analytical device (µPAD) using carbon dots doped with transition metals (Cr3+, Mn2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+) has been provided to detect and discriminate 20 natural amino acids. To make the colourless metal-doped carbon dots suitable for colorimetric assays, they were mixed with ninhydrin to form a charge transfer complex. This optical tongue system, which was constructed by dropping mixtures of ninhydrin with a series of metal-doped carbon dots on a paper substrate in an array format, represented obvious but different colorimetric signatures for every examined amino acid. Since bovine serum albumin was used as a chiral selector reagent for synthesizing the CDs, the sensor device represented excellent selectivity to identify enantiomeric species of AAs. This is the first optical array device that can simultaneously discriminate AAs and several of their enantiomers. We employed various statistical and chemometric methods to analyze the digital data library collected by Image J software, including principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Twenty AAs could be well distinguished at various concentrations (10.00, 5.00, 2.50, and 1.25 mM). The colorimetric patterns were highly repeatable and were characteristic of individual AAs. Besides qualitative analysis, the designed µPAD-based optical tongue represented quantitative analysis ability, e.g., for lysine in the concentration ranges of 0.005-20.0 mM with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10-6 M and for arginine in the concentration range of 0.12-20.00 mM with a detection limit of 80.0 × 10-6 M. In addition, the binary, ternary, and quaternary mixtures of AAs could also be well recognized with this sensor.

A facile and eco-friendly fluorometric method for the determination of methotrexate and folic acid in biological samples based on hollow luminescent carbon dots and chemometrics method.

A rapid, simple, and inexpensive spectrofluorimetric sensor has been developed for the simultaneous determination of methotrexate (MTX) and folic acid (FA) based on their interactions with hollow carbon dots (HCDs). Since the use of folic acid to cope with the toxic side effects of MTX in patients is essential, the simultaneous determination of these two compounds has been interesting. The results showed that  MTX could quench the fluorescence of HCDs with a dynamic quenching mechanism. The sensor exhibited a linear concentration range of 1.0 × 10-6-1.9 × 10-4 mol L-1 for MTX and 1.5 × 10-5-9.4 × 10-4 mol L-1 for FA and the obtained detection limits for MTX and FA were 1.6 × 10-7 and 5.0 × 10-7 mol L-1, respectively. The applicability of the method was investigated in the analysis of the urine samples and the partial least squares (PLS) method was used for the simultaneous determination of MTX and FA.

Λ-[Co((S,S)-dpen)3]3+ 2I-B(C6F5)4-: A Second Generation Air- and Water-Stable Chiral Solvating Agent for Chirality Sensing (dpen = NH2CHPhCHPhNH2).

When CDCl3 solutions of chiral racemic molecules containing moderately Lewis basic functional groups are treated with the chiral solvating agent (CSA) Λ-[Co((S,S)-dpen)3]3+ 2I-B(C6F5)4- (Λ-(S,S)-13+ 2I-B(C6F5)4-), baseline-resolved NMR signals are observed for the enantiomers (29 diverse analytes). Only 0.62-100 mol % loadings are required (avg 14.5 or 11.6% for 24 analytes common to all tested CSAs). The overall performance is superior to those reported earlier for analogous salts with 2X-BArf- counter anion sets [BArf = B(3,5-C6H3(CF3)2)4]; 1.0-100 mol % loadings, avg 32.6% (X = Cl) or 14.0% (X = I) for 24 common analytes) and a new 2TfO-B(C6F5)4- salt (1.1-100 mol % loadings; avg 31.0% for 24 common analytes), including extensions to prochirality sensing. The effect of the solvent (Δδ in CDCl3 > CD2Cl2) is analyzed. The new CSAs are prepared in two steps from Λ-(S,S)-13+ 3Cl- by standard anion metathesis recipes (90-98% overall). The broad analyte scope and modest loading requirements for the title CSA distinctly surpass those of others in the literature.