Sensitive and on-site detection of glyphosate based on papain-stabilized fluorescent gold nanoclusters

• Published in: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry Vol. 412; no. 29; pp. 8177 - 8184
• Main Authors: Hong, Chengyi, Ye, Sishi, Dai, Chenying, Wu, Chenyue, Chen, Lingling, Huang, Zhiyong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Analytical Chemistry; Biochemistry; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dopamine; Drinking water; Environmental security; Fluorescence; Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry; Fluorescent indicators; Food Science; Glycine - analogs & derivatives; Glycine - analysis; Glyphosate; Gold; Gold - chemistry; Health aspects; Herbicides - analysis; Insects; Laboratory Medicine; Limit of Detection; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nanoclusters; Organophosphorus pesticides; Papain; Papain - chemistry; Pesticide residues; Pesticides; Public health; Research Paper; Residues; Spectrometry, Fluorescence - methods; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet - methods; Tyrosinase; Water analysis; Water pollution; Water sampling; China; Papain; Gold nanoclusters; Test strip; Glyphosate; Fluorescence detection
• ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-020-02952-7

Organophosphorus pesticides can prevent or eliminate various pathogenic bacteria, insects, and weeds, and thus they are widely applied in agricultural production. However, illegal use and issues with organophosphorus pesticide residues contribute to global environmental pollution and pose a threat to public health safety. In this study, we developed a sensitive glyphosate (Glyp) fluorescence detection method using papain-stabilized gold nanoclusters (papain-AuNCs) as the fluorescence probe and a tyrosinase (TYR)/dopamine (DA) fluorescence-quenching system. The TYR catalyzed the oxidized conversion of DA into DA chrome, which served as an electron acceptor to quench the fluorescence of papain-AuNCs. However, Glyp inhibited the activity of TYR, thereby preventing DA oxidization and leading to the fluorescence recovery of papain-AuNCs. Under the optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensities of papain-AuNCs exhibited a good linear relationship with the concentration of Glyp in the range of 0.04–0.4 ng·mL −1 , and the limit of detection for Glyp was 0.035 ng·mL −1 . Furthermore, a paper-based sensor was constructed using the proposed system, which enabled on-site visual and semiquantitative detection of Glyp residues in tap-water samples. Overall, our strategy provides new opportunities for detection of organophosphorus pesticides and evaluation of environmental security. Graphical abstract