Electrochemical sensors allow for ultrasensitive detection of nitrobenzene in honey, establishing a new method for wide-scale application of harmful substance detection in food and environmental supply chains.
Nitrobenzene is a well-known toxic solvent found in industry that enters the environment and food chains from industrial waste processes. It is a carcinogenic and mutagenic substance to both humans and animals, and poses serious side effects when ingested including nausea, impaired vision, and damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. Therefore, it is essential for platforms to be in place to measure even trace levels of nitrobenzene to allow for control and monitoring to avoid these complications.
One food industry that is particularly vulnerable to nitrobenzene contamination is honey and bees. Nitrobenzene is used as an insecticide that is effective in protecting bee colonies from dangerous ticks that can cause contagious diseases, acting to prevent depletion and death of entire colonies by killing said ticks. As a result, there are already methods in place for detection of nitrobenzene in the lab, including standard chromatography, spectroscopy, and electrochemical methods. However, most of the current methods available are too expensive or time-intensive, which limits their application for rapid on-site analysis during food preparation and packaging. Currently, the most promising method for fast and portable detections remains to be seen in electrochemical methods, where future advancements could allow for the requirements of fast on-site detection.
A research team situated in Russia at the Ural Federal University and the Institute of Organic Synthesis has explored such advancements and has recently discovered modifications for electrodes to meet these demands. These electrode sensors utilize a group of organic chemical compounds known as diazines, which replaces current standards using expensive and low-stability enzyme-based systems. This enables interactions with nitrobenzene compounds, as 1,3/1,4-diazines classes can selectively pull nitrobenzene from complex samples like honey onto the electrochemical sensor.
Armed with this new strategy, the researchers claim they were able to detect harmful amounts of nitrobenzene in honey products that previous methodologies would have missed. The high-sensitivity and accuracy of those probe allows for an incredibly low limit of detection of 0.107 μM, and wide linear range of detection from 1-1000 μM that enables nitrobenzene in a wide-array of water and food samples to be measured. These accomplishments are said to be a product of synergistic effects, including the complexation of nitrobenzene with the diazine sensor, and an increase in electroconductivity that provides higher selectivity and sensitivity.
Due to the portability of this strategy, the method will soon see applications both in the lab as well as in real-time scenarios during food manufacturing. The development will also be in demand not only in food quality but will also see a potential future in environment monitoring and industry, specifically cosmetic development due to similar necessities for nitrobenzene and potential contamination. Using these strategies, the team plans to soon make these sensors universally available, and is continuing their efforts in the area to develop new analytical probes for working with more hazardous chemicals in the field.
The findings of this research have been published in the Journal of Food Chemistry: Svalova, T. S.; Saigushkina, A. A.; Verbitskiy, E. V.; Chistyakov, K. A.; Varaksin, M. V.; Rusinov, G. L.; Charushin, V. N.; Kozitsina, A. N. Rapid and Sensitive Determination of Nitrobenzene in Solutions and Commercial Honey Samples Using a Screen-Printed Electrode Modified by 1,3-/1,4-Diazines. Food Chem. 2022, 372, 131279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131279
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