Booth Id:
CHEM008
Category:
Chemistry
Year:
2022
Finalist Names:
CEKUC, MEHMET (School: Istanbul Fuat Sezgin Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi)
Abstract:
Ligands have simple and useful applications in protecting the environment from toxic chemicals due to their low-cost and ease of operation. This makes ligands attractive in many fields, from disease diagnosis to environmental monitoring. This research proposes a novel way to create amino fluorescent targeting ligands to detect the most common volatile aldehydes acrolein and formalin through quantitatively distinguishing computer-based microfluidic assay. Volatile aldehydes are carcinogenic contaminants that pollute the water, air, and soil due to combustion processes (cigarettes, fuels, and organic combustions). Current detection methods for volatile aldehydes are lengthy, expensive, non-specific to markers. In this study, a novel interdisciplinary detection tool was developed that offers C=N double bond formation by a process analogous to antigen recognition in cellular biology. The system offers rapid colorimetric analysis in less than 1 minute triggered by diffusion of copper(II) ion. This technique is highly-selective, easily visualized, and inexpensive, even compared to that of other ligands. This new color-changing behavior is specific to the acrolein and formalin, and attributed to functionalized imine co-ligands and copper(II) interactions on the assay. I have demonstrated that traces amounts (0.1 ppm) of volatile aldehyde can be detected by my assay. Besides simple qualitative visual readouts, a convenient computer-based platform fed into a developed matching algorithm has been utilized to achieve quantitative analysis on spectral shifts. Beyond its novelty, new targeting ligands have great potential in many important applications, from early screening platforms for quality of food samples to better understanding drug toxicity before it enters the environment.