Analytical platform for sugar sensing in commercial beverages using a fluorescent BODIPY “light-up” probe

Abstract

Because of the globally increasing prevalence of diabetes, the need for accurate, efficient and at best miniaturized automated analytical systems for sugar detection in medical diagnostics and the food industry is still urgent. The development of molecular probes for sugars based on boronic acid receptors offers an excellent alternative to the kinetically slow enzyme-based sugar sensors. Moreover, by coupling such chelating units with dye scaffolds like BODIPYs (boron–dipyrromethenes), highly fluorescent sugar sensing schemes can be realized. In this work, a boronic acid-functionalized BODIPY probe was developed, which binds selectively to fructose’s adjacent diols to form cyclic boronate esters. Placement of an amino group in direct neighborhood of the boronic acid moiety allowed us to obtain a broad working range at neutral pH, which distinguishes the probe from the majority of systems working only at pH >8, while still meeting the desired sensitivity in the micro-molar range due to a pronounced analyte-induced fluorescence increase. To enhance the applicability of the test in the sense described above, integration with a microfluidic chip was achieved. Here, fructose was selectively detected by fluorescence with similar sensitivity in real time on chip, and an assay for the straightforward detection of sugar in (colored) sodas without sample clean-up was established.