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β-Cyclodextrin (β-CD) modified silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), denoted as β-CD/AgNPs, were prepared by a simple one-pot method. Due to the inherent chirality of β-CD, the developed β-CD/AgNPs exhibited higher affinity toward l-tyrosine (l-Tyr) than d-tyrosine (d-Tyr), leading to serious aggregation of AgNPs in the presence of l-Tyr. Consequently, the l-Tyr induced aggregation of AgNPs can result in signal amplification in the differential pulse voltammograms (DPVs) of l-Tyr, which can be applied for the electrochemical chiral discrimination of the Tyr enantiomers. Other chiral amino acids including tryptophan and phenylalanine can also be successfully discriminated with the β-CD/AgNPs, suggesting high universality of the developed chiral sensor.

An ultrasensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor was developed based on MIL-53(Al)@CdS QDs and SiO2@AuNPs for trichlorfon detection. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) were used as a loading platform that provided a large surface area to load targets and modified materials onto the electrode. At the same time, SiO2@AuNPs loaded plenty of AuNPs which effectively increased the ECL resonance energy transfer between the CdS QDs, so that the ECL signal was strongly quenched and resulted in an amplified response. In the range of 10−11–10−4 M, the ECL response showed a linear relationship with the concentration (logarithm) of trichlorfon, and the detection limit was 5.1 × 10−12 M (S/N = 3). When the biosensor was applied to detect trichlorfon in lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, and chives, the recoveries obtained from the spiked samples were 97%–105%, 102%–104%, 100%–104%, and 98%–104%, respectively. Thus, this novel ECL biosensor has potential applications for the analysis of trichlorfon in food samples.

Nucleic acid lateral flow sensing has drawn great research attention since it has the advantages of being simple, rapid, and cost-effective. However, considering the trace amounts of the nucleic acid targets, its sensitivity is still limited. Although enormous efforts have been devoted to enhancing its sensitivity, developing a simple lateral flow sensing platform with high sensitivity remains challenging. We report a novel lateral flow microRNA-21 biosensing platform based on a portable surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) reader coupled with a catalytic hairpin assembly signal amplification strategy. Hairpin DNA probes were anchored on Au@Ag nanotags, and the presence of microRNA-21 triggered the formation of numerous double-stranded DNAs along with the exposure of the biotin groups. By this means, the target was recycled and signal amplification was achieved. The Au@Ag nanoprobes with exposed biotin can be captured on the test line via its interaction with streptavidin. By scanning the strip with a portable SERS reader, the sensitive quantification of microRNA-21 was realized with a detection limit as low as 84 fM. The proposed strategy was employed to detect the target in a serum sample, demonstrating its great potential in amplified point-of-care biosensing for clinical diagnosis.

In this study, an electroactive rotaxane, (S,S)-crown-3, consisting of a polymeric chiral ionic liquid as a flexible axle and 18-crown-6 as the wheel, was designed and synthesized. It is worth noting that a stimuli-responsive system was developed, in which the wheel could switch its location between the chiral carbamido group and ionic pair of the ionic polymers under an external force. Next, (S,S)-crown-3 was employed as a modification on the surface of glassy electrode. In contrast to previous study, the developed probe presented a clear discrimination of an electrochemical signal in the absence of Cu(ii). Under the external force (different pH values), l-isomers of amino acids (tryptophan, tyrosine, and cysteine) could form stable host-guest interactions with the chiral carbamido group, producing higher peak currents than the d-isomers. Compared to the absence of the crown, (S,S)-crown-3 showed much better recognition efficiency. The value of IL/ID for tryptophan could reach 39.8. In brief, the present study describes a powerful method for the synthesis of an electroactive rotaxane with great enantiorecognition capability.

5,10,15,20-Tetrakis(4-carboxyl phenyl)porphyrin (Por) modified Co(OH)2 deposited on the surface of GO nanocomposites (Por/Co(OH)2/GO) were prepared and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and XRD. For the first time, H2TCPP/Co(OH)2/GO is found to have enhanced peroxidase-like activity and catalyze the oxidation of the substrate 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Notably, the colorless TMB rapidly transformed into blue oxTMB in just 60 s, which was easily observed visually. The catalytic kinetics of H2TCPP/Co(OH)2/GO is in accord with the Michaelis-Menten equation. The catalytic mechanism of H2TCPP/Co(OH)2/GO nanocomposites is attributed to hydroxyl radicals (˙OH), due to decomposition of H2O2, which is verified by using terephthalic acid as a fluorescent probe. What's more, H2O2 can be detected in a wide linear detection range from 5 to 35 mM with a detection limit of 0.385 mM. Furthermore, based on the excellent peroxidase-like activity of H2TCPP/Co(OH)2/GO, a colorimetric sensor is established to sensitively detect glutathione (GSH) in a linear range from 10 to 300 μM with a low detection limit of 9.5 μM.