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An ultrasensitive sensor based on quantitatively modified upconversion particles for trace bisphenol A detection

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Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the endocrine-disrupting chemicals which might cause reproductive and endocrine system diseases, and poses a serious threat to the ecosystem and human health. This paper reports an ultrasensitive sensor for trace BPA detection employing fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between modified upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and tetramethylrhodamine. To circumvent the problems of low luminous efficiency of FRET and low sensitivity of sensor, the upconversion nanoparticles with very strong fluorescence efficiency were prepared and quantitatively modified. Results showed that the concentrations of amino groups and streptavidin were 43 nmol/mg and 6.12 μg/mg on the surface of the UCNPs, respectively. Under the optimal detection conditions, the peak intensity of UCNPs at 547 nm was linear with the logarithm of the BPA concentration with the detection limit of 0.05 ng/mL. Without complicated pre-processing, the recoveries were in general between 91.0 and 115.0% in tap water, river water, and disposable paper cup water. Therefore, the proposed sensor is suitable for effective sensing of trace BPA in water samples.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21477162, 81602896, AWS15J006); the Tianjin Research Program of Application Foundation and Advanced Technology (Grant No. 15JCYBJC51200); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFF0104903) and Natural Science Fund of Tianjin City (Grant No. 17JCQNJC12500).

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  1. Qiaofeng Li and Jialei Bai contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control Technology for Environment and Food Safety, Institute of Environmental and Operational Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Science, Academy of Military Science, Da Li Road 1, Tianjin, 300050, China

    Qiaofeng Li, Jialei Bai, Shuyue Ren, Jiang Wang, Shuang Li, Yuan Peng, Baoan Ning & Zhixian Gao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Lihu Road 1800, Wuxi, 214122, Jiangsu, China

    Qiaofeng Li

  3. School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Yifei Gao

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  1. Qiaofeng Li
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Correspondence to Baoan Ning or Zhixian Gao.

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Li, Q., Bai, J., Ren, S. et al. An ultrasensitive sensor based on quantitatively modified upconversion particles for trace bisphenol A detection. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 171–179 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1425-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1425-8

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