Abstract
Facile detection of β-lactoglobulin is extraordinarily important for the management of the allergenic safety of cow’s milk and its dairy products. A sensitive electrochemical sensor based on a molecularly imprinted polymer-modified carbon electrode for the detection of β-lactoglobulin was successfully synthesized. This molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared using a hydrothermal method with choline chloride as a functional monomer, β-lactoglobulin as template molecule and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinking agent. Then, the molecularly imprinted polymer was immobilized on polyethyleneimine (PEI)-reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-gold nanoclusters (Au-NCs) to improve the sensor’s selectivity for β-lactoglobulin. Under optimal experimental conditions, the designed sensor showed a good response to β-lactoglobulin, with a linear detection range between 10−9 and 10−4 mg/mL, and a detection limit of 10−9 mg/mL (S/N = 3). The developed electrochemical sensor showed a high correlation in the detection of β-lactoglobulin in four different milk samples from the market, indicating that the sensor can be used with actual sample.
Highlights
We investigated the reproducibility of PEIrGO-Au-NCs@molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs)/Screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) by preparing the same PEI-reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-Au-NCs@MIP/SPCE to detect β-Lg
The RSD of the response currents of ten different electrodes was 2.2%, revealing good reproducibility of PEI-rGO-Au-NCs@MIP/SPCE. These results indicated that the detection of β-Lg by PEI-rGO-Au-NCs@MIP/SPCE had good reproducibility and specificity
The obtained electrochemical sensor was successfully applied in the determination of β-Lg in real-world samples, and the results were similar to a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, which is considered as reliable analysis
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Milk and dairy products are an important part of the human diet, owing to their rich nutrition and easy absorption. Some people are allergic to milk and dairy products because of the presence of allergenic proteins, which can make some people face serious adverse reactions in the skin, gastrointestinal tract, or respiratory tract [1,2,3]. Avoidance of allergenic food is an efficient management method, but milk is the only food for infants. To protect the allergic population and still satisfy their need for milk, a special formula without allergenic proteins has been developed [4]. The detection for allergenic proteins has become essential to ensure the safety of hypoallergenic milk
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