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Responsive hydrogel-based three-dimensional photonic crystal sensor for lactic acid detection

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Abstract

The determination of lactic acid content has a guiding significance for disease diagnosis or food supervision. Herein, a hydrogel-based three-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) sensor for specific detection of lactic acid is introduced. The hydrogel was prepared by one-step copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylamide in the presence of oxamate derivative 2-((6-acrylamidohexyl) amino)-2-oxoacetic acid (AOA). An obvious color change from orange-red to purple and a 45-nm redshift of the reflection peak were obtained in 3 min when lactic acid concentration increased from 0 to 20 mM. The detection limit was confirmed as 0.1 mM, and the prepared sensor can be reused more than 20 times. Moreover, the affinity and selectivity of AOA to lactic acid were proven by both the interaction energy from density functional theory (DFT) study and the comparison to those of pyruvate and propionic acid. This sensor was proven to be cost-effective and convenient with rapid response time, good reusability, and selectivity.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 21874009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 102488, China

    Qi Li, Songtao Liu, Nyv Mondele Mbola, Zihui Meng, Xiao Dong & Min Xue

  2. Department of Chemistry, Irvine (UCI), University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-2025, USA

    Kenneth J. Shea

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  1. Qi Li
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Correspondence to Min Xue.

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Li, Q., Liu, S., Mbola, N.M. et al. Responsive hydrogel-based three-dimensional photonic crystal sensor for lactic acid detection. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 7695–7704 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04300-3

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