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 (PAH) 进行快速、灵敏和特定化合物的分析。风险评估需要进行化学特异性分析，因为化学结构几乎相同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（GC 或 HPLC，通常带有质谱检测）速度慢且昂贵。荧光非常灵敏，可直接读取，并且数据本质上是多维的。先前的研究表明，将 Shpol'skii 基质样品冷却至低温、用窄带可调谐激光激发荧光以及时间分辨光谱均可增强特异性。 然而，技术挑战阻碍了这些策略单独的常规使用，更不用说组合使用了。该项目将证明，通过在 77 K 下为 Shpol'skii 矩阵获取的时间分辨激发发射矩阵，可以快速分析真实样品中的苯并[a]芘。该项目的核心技术创新是极其紧凑的可调谐紫外激光器、荧光寿命方法的简化以及通过冻结在矩阵中的光纤将激发光直接传送到样品。新的程序和仪器将应用于环境场地表征和修复、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 TREEM 直接荧光分析的可行性得到证实，预计将扩展到其他市场，特别是制药、农业和食品行业。

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.