SBIR Phase I: Direct Fluorescence Analysis by Low Temperature Time-Resolved Excitation Emission Matrices

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将对空气、水、土壤和沉积物中的多环芳烃（PAHs）进行快速、敏感和特定的化合物分析。风险评估需要化学特异性分析，因为具有几乎相同化学结构的多环芳烃的致癌或致突变潜力差异很大。传统的色谱方法（气相色谱或高效液相色谱，通常需要进行质量检测）速度慢且价格昂贵。荧光是足够敏感的，直接读取，数据本质上是多维的。先前的研究表明，将Shpol'skii基质样品冷却到低温，用窄带可调谐激光激发荧光，以及时间分辨光谱都可以增强特异性。然而，由于技术方面的挑战，这些战略无法单独得到常规利用，更不用说结合起来使用了。该项目将证明，苯并[a]芘可以通过在77 K下获得的Shpol'skii矩阵的时间分辨激发发射矩阵在实际样品中快速分析。该项目的核心技术创新是一种非常紧凑的可调谐紫外激光器，简化了荧光寿命方法，并通过冻结在基质中的光纤将激发光直接传递到样品中。新的程序和仪器将应用于环境现场表征和补救、健康研究和基础实验室研究。最初的商业市场预计将是环境测试和分析实验室。一旦确定TREEM直接荧光分析的可行性，预计将扩展到其他市场，特别是在制药、农业和食品工业。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will lead to fast, sensitive, and compound-specific analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air, water, soil, and sediment. Risk assessment demands chemically-specific analysis because the carcinogenic or mutagenic potential varies widely for PAHs with nearly identical chemical structures. The traditional chromatographic methods (GC or HPLC, often with mass detection) are slow and expensive. Fluorescence is amply sensitive, direct reading, and the data are inherently multi-dimensional. Prior research has shown that cooling Shpol'skii matrix samples to cryogenic temperature, exciting the fluorescence with narrow band tunable laser light, and time-resolved spectroscopy each enhance specificity. However, technical challenges have prevented the routine utilization of these strategies individually, let alone in combination. This project will demonstrate that benzo[a]pyrene can be quickly analyzed in real-world samples by time-resolved excitation emission matrices acquired for Shpol'skii matrices at 77 K. Technical innovations central to the project are an extremely compact tunable ultraviolet laser, simplification of fluorescence lifetime methodology, and delivering the excitation light directly to the sample by a fiber optic frozen into the matrix. The new procedures and instrumentation will see applications in environmental site characterization and remediation, health research, and fundamental laboratory studies.The initial commercial market is expected to be environmental testing and analytical laboratories. Once the feasibility of the TREEM direct fluorescence analysis is established, expansion to other markets, particularly in the pharmaceutical, agricultural and food industries is expected.