article · Luminescence
Vanillin is prohibited in food for infants under six months of age, as excessive consumption can cause nausea, headaches, vomiting, and eating disorders. To address this, a sensitive turn-off fluorescent nanosensor was developed using green-synthesised nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots prepared from citrus bulb squeeze extract and urea. Vanillin quenches the fluorescence of these quantum dots in a concentration-dependent manner. Optimised through a two-level full factorial experimental design, the sensor achieved a detection range of 0.1 to 12.0 micrograms per millilitre and a detection limit of 0.013 micrograms per millilitre. The approach was adapted into a smartphone imaging assay inside a ultraviolet chamber, matching the performance of standard fluorimetry. Both methods successfully measured vanillin in infant milk formula and biscuits with high recovery rates, while biocompatibility tests indicated potential utility in cancer cell imaging.
Vanillin is restricted in infant food because excessive amounts can cause adverse health effects, including vomiting and eating disorders. Developing accessible testing methods allows food manufacturers and regulatory authorities to ensure products comply with safety limits. Using common agricultural inputs and a simple smartphone setup makes sensitive food testing easier to conduct outside high-resource analytical laboratories.
This work demonstrates an applied and laboratory-tested detection method suited to food quality assurance teams, safety regulators, and infant formula manufacturers. By validating a smartphone-based ultraviolet imaging format alongside standard fluorimetry, the research enables low-cost, portable screening tools for food production environments. The findings also suggest an early-stage pathway for biomedical developers interested in non-toxic probes for cancer cell imaging.
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Vanillin is a flavouring agent that is prohibited for use in infant food products with ages lower than 6 months. Excessive vanillin usage could lead to eating disorders, nausea, headache, and vomiting. Therefore, it is essential to control the contents of vanillin in food samples, especially in infant formula. Here, we developed a highly sensitive nanosensor for vanillin based on using green synthesized highly fluorescent (QY = 29.5%) N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) as a turn-off fluorescent nanoprobe. The N-doped CQDs synthesis was adopted using citrus bulb squeeze extract and the commonly used fertilizer, urea, as substrates. After mixing with vanillin, the fluorescence of the N-CQDs was largely quenched in a vanillin concentration-dependent manner. The sensing conditions were optimized by quality-by-design using a two-level full factorial design (2<sup>2</sup> FFD). The N-doped CQDs could detect vanillin in the range 0.1-12.0 μg/ml with a limit of detection of 0.013 μg/ml. Next, a smartphone imaging-based assay combined with a UV chamber was adopted and applied for vanillin determination. This simple detection technique showed sensitivity similar to that of the conventional fluorimetric method. Both conventional and smartphone-based methods were successfully applied for the determination of vanillin in infant milk formula and biscuits and could detect real vanillin concentrations in the analyzed samples with high % recoveries (94.5% to 105.5%). At last, the biocompatibility of the newly synthesized N-CQDs was tested, and it was found to be an excellent candidate for cancer cell imaging.
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DOI: 10.1002/bio.4643
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