I-Corps: Colorimetric sensors for the detection of volatile amine

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是健康、食品安全和诊断方面的传感技术的进步，并进入快速增长的全球传感器市场。比色传感器是一类化合物，当暴露在刺激下时，会在两种不同的颜色状态之间进行转换，并在现实应用中得到验证，如血糖监测和早期怀孕测试。该项目的重点是开发和部署简单且具有成本效益的比色指示器，用于检测食品腐败、检测水中的污染物、检测药物残留、监测伤口的感染情况以及跟踪固相肽和类肽的合成。最初的重点领域适用于大型市场，在那里这些指标可以用来确定肉类和海鲜的新鲜度，并可以帮助解决食物浪费和食源性疾病的问题。这个i-Corps项目是基于人们对智能材料日益增长的兴趣？由于外部输入而改变性质或状态的化合物。特别是，这项研究是基于一种便携式、廉价的比色传感器的开发，该传感器能够在硫醇和醇存在的情况下检测胺的亚ppm水平，并由低成本的商业可获得的起始材料制备。被激活的呋喃与这些低水平的胺之间的反应，无论是在溶液中还是在固体载体上，在环境条件下产生一种鲜艳的粉红色，肉眼或使用智能手机的数码相机都能区分出来。对这些反应在溶液中的动力学分析和对可测胺水平的定量显示出极好的灵敏度和选择性。在应用中，活化的呋喃溶液被用作固相合成肽和类肽的比色分析方法，并被吸附在尼龙过滤器上，用于监测腐烂鱼样品中胺的实时释放。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is advancement of sensing technology for health, food safety, and diagnostics, and taps into the rapidly growing global market for sensors. Colorimetric sensors are a family of compounds that undergo a conversion between two different colored states upon exposure to a stimulus and are validated in real-world applications such as blood-glucose monitoring and early pregnancy tests. This project focuses on the development and deployment of simple and cost effective colorimetric indicators for use in applications such as detection of food spoilage, detection of contaminants in water, detection of pharmaceutical residues, monitoring wounds for the onset of infection, and tracking solid phase peptide and peptoid synthesis. The initial focus area applies to the large market, where these indicators can be used to determine the freshness of meat and seafood, and can help address the problems of food waste and food-borne illnesses.This I-Corps project is based on a growing interest in smart materials ? compounds that change properties or state as a result of an external input. In particular, this research is based on the development of a portable and inexpensive colorimetric sensor capable of detecting sub-ppm levels of amine in the presence of thiols and alcohols, and prepared from low-cost, commercially available starting materials. The reaction between an activated furan and these low levels of amines, in solution or when incorporated onto solid supports, produces a vibrant pink color under ambient conditions that is distinguishable by the naked eye or by using the digital camera of a smartphone. Analysis of the kinetics of these reactions in solution and the quantification of the levels of detectable amine show excellent sensitivity and selectivity. In application, activated furan solutions were used as a colorimetric assay for solid-phase synthesis of peptides and peptoids and were adsorbed onto nylon filters and used to monitor the real-time release of amines from decaying fish samples.