A novel homolateral and dicationic AIEgen for the sensitive detection of casein.
Zenghe LiLianying WangWeijiang GuanCai-Feng DingZhiqin YuanChao LuPublished in: The Analyst (2019)
The exploitation of highly soluble and responsive AIEgens is essential for further expansion of their practical applications. In this study, dipropyltrimethylammonium bromide-substituted TPE (denoted as o-TPEDTA), a homolateral and dicationic AIEgen, was synthesized and applied for the turn-on detection of casein via hydrophobic interactions. The rapid and sensitive detection of casein was achieved using the designed o-TPEDTA probe with the limit of detection of 0.05 μg mL-1. The satisfying selectivity of over 1000-fold concentration of other probably existing chemicals, including amino acids, sugars and salts, was achieved due to the strong binding affinity between o-TPEDTA and casein. The evaluation of casein in milk powder samples with small relative standard deviations was realized using the o-TPEDTA probe. The accuracy of the o-TPEDTA probe-based detection method was validated by the consistency of the casein detection results with those obtained via a national standard casein evaluation approach.