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Portable paper-based probe for on-site ratiometric fluorescence determination of total flavonol glycosides in plant extract using smartphone imaging

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Abstract

A smartphone-assisted, paper-based ratio fluorescence probe is presented for the rapid, low-cost and on-site quantification of total flavonol glycosides in Ginkgo biloba extracts (GBE). The Al3+/Eu-MOF/paper-based probe utilizes lanthanide metal-organic framework (Ln-MOF) nanoparticles immobilized on Whatman filter paper along with Al3+ for detecting flavonols, which are the hydrolyzed products of flavonol glycosides. The color change of the paper-based fluorescence image from red to orange depends on the concentration of the target analyte in the sample solution. The smartphone equipped with a red, green, blue (RGB) color detector measured the fluorescence signal intensity on the paper substrate after adding flavonol. The analytical variables affecting the performance of the probe, including the addition sequence of the aluminum nitrate solution, its concentration, that of the Ln-MOF solution, the drying time of the paper probe, the reaction time and the sensitivity parameters of the mobile phone camera (ISO), were optimized. Under optimal conditions, the Al3+/Eu-MOF/paper-based probe has good linear response in the concentration range 7 ~ 80 µg mL− 1 and a lower detection limit of 2.07 µg mL− 1. The results obtained with the paper-based ratio fluorescence probe and smartphone combination were validated by comparing them with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) measurements. This study provides a potential strategy for fabricating Al3+/Eu-MOF/paper-based probe used for total flavonol glycosides determination.

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Acknowledgements

This research acknowledges the financial support of the Bureau of the International Cooperation of the NSFC and the Foreign Experts Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China through a Grant for Foreign Youth Project [No. QNJ20200010003]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) through the Grant [No. 81950410634]; China Pharmaceutical University 2019 high-level talent introduction research start-up fund [No. 3150050051].

Funding

http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809 National Natural Science Foundation of China 81950410634 Dr.Pierre DRAMOU 0000-0002-5606-034X the Bureau of the International Cooperation of the NSFC and the Foreign Experts Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China through a Grant for Foreign Youth Project QNJ20200010003 Dr. Pierre DRAMOU 0000-0002-5606-034X China Pharmaceutical University 2019 high-level talent introduction research start-up fund 3150050051 Dr. Pierre DRAMOU 0000-0002-5606-034X

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Author notes

  1. Jie Gao and Dan Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, 639 Longmian Avenue, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 211198, China

    Jie Gao, Dan Wang, Yue Chen, Gisèle Ineza Urujeni, Xue Tang, Ziwei Lu, Yaoyao Wang, Hua He, Deli Xiao & Pierre Dramou

  2. Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance (China Pharmaceutical University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, 210009, China

    Hua He, Deli Xiao & Pierre Dramou

  3. Key Laboratory of Biomedical Functional Materials, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China

    Hua He, Deli Xiao & Pierre Dramou

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  1. Jie Gao
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Contributions

JG and DW: Conceptualization, method, formal analysis, investigation, writing - original draft. YC: Validation & investigation. GIU, XT, ZL, YW: Writing, review & data analysis. HH: Method, resources & supervision. DX: Review & supervision. PD: Funding acquisition, supervision, data validation, writing-review & editing.

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Correspondence to Deli Xiao or Pierre Dramou.

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Gao, J., Wang, D., Chen, Y. et al. Portable paper-based probe for on-site ratiometric fluorescence determination of total flavonol glycosides in plant extract using smartphone imaging. Microchim Acta 191, 70 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-06166-3

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