The use of Artificial Neural Networks for the selective detection of two organophosphate insecticides: Chlorpyrifos and chlorfenvinfos

Amperometric acetylcholinesterase (AChE) biosensors have been developed to resolve mixtures of chlorpyrifos oxon (CPO) and chlorfenvinfos (CFV) pesticides. Three different biosensors were built using the wild type from electric eel (EE), the genetically modified Drosophila melanogaster AChE B394 and B394 co-immobilized with a phosphotriesterase (PTE). Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were used to model the combined response of the two pesticides. Specifically two different ANNs were constructed. The first one was used to model the combined response of B394 + PTE and EE biosensors and was applied when the concentration of CPO was high and the other, modelling the combined response of B394 + PTE and B394 biosensors, was applied with low concentrations of CPO. In both cases, good prediction ability was obtained with correlation coefficients better than 0.986 when the obtained values were compared with those expected for a set of six external test samples not used for training.     

Potentiometric Biosensors Based on ISFETs and Immobilized Cholinesterases

This paper describes the authors' achievements in the development, investigation, and application of cholinesterase biosensors based on ISFETs. Various biosensors for determination of concentrations of different toxic substances (organophosphorous and carbamate pesticides, hypochlorite, glycoalkaloids) were designed on the basis of reversible and/or irreversible enzyme inhibition effects. The main analytical characteristics of the biosensors developed have been studied under different conditions and optimal experimental protocols for toxic substances determination have been proposed. Most of these biosensors show a high reproducibility and a good operational and storage stability. A quite good correlation with results obtained through routinely used standard methods as HPLC has been shown.     

Application of multiwalled carbon nanotubes for the preconcentration and determination of organochlorine pesticides in water samples by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry

A fast, sensitive, and convenient technique consisting of a miniaturized solid‐phase extraction method named microextraction in packed syringe coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry was developed for the preconcentration and determination of some pesticides, including hexachlorobenzene, heptachlor, alachlor, aldrine, and metolachlore, in natural water samples. Carboxyl‐purified multiwalled carbon nanotubes were used as a sorbent in microextraction in packed syringe. Based on this technique, 6.0 mg of multiwalled carbon nanotubes was inserted in the syringe between two polypropylene frits. The analytes would be adsorbed on the solid phase, and would subsequently be eluted using organic solvents. The influence of some important parameters involved including the solution pH, type, and volume of the organic desorption solvent, and amount of the multiwalled carbon nanotubes sorbent on the extraction efficiency of the selected pesticides were investigated. The proposed method showed a good linearity in the range of 0.1–25.0 ng/mL and low limits of detection in the range of 0.02–0.19 ng/mL using the selected ion‐monitoring mode. Reproducibility of the method was in the range of 3.3–8.5% for the studied pesticides. Also to evaluate the matrix effect, the developed method was applied to the preconcentration and determination of the selected pesticides in different water samples.     

Determination of glucose and lactose in food products with the use of biosensors based on Berlin blue

The immobilization of enzymes into polyelectrolyte membranes with the use of organic solvents was applied to the development of the biosensing elements of biosensors. The following domestically produced preparations were used: the enzymes glucose oxidase and β-galactosidase and a perfluorosulfonated polymer. The compositions of mono-and bienzymic polyelectrolyte membranes were optimized. The glucose and lactose biosensors based on Berlin blue (as a signal transducer) and polyelectrolyte membranes exhibited high sensitivity, low detection limits, and fast response. The results of the analysis of milk whey in a flow-injection system that included biosensors completely correlated with measurement data obtained by a standard chromatographic technique.     

A quantitative determination of organophosphate pesticides in organic solvents

An amperometric acetylcholinesterase (AChE) biosensor based on thiocholine-hexacyanoferrate reaction was developed for the analysis of OPCs in pure organic solvents. The enzyme (AChE) was co-immobilized with an electron mediator, Prussian Blue, on the surface of a graphite electrode. The effect of organic solvents on acetylcholinesterase activity was estimated in the presence of polar (hydrophilic) and non-polar (hydrophobic) organic solvents in the range of 0.01–100%. The ability of the AChE biosensor to detect pesticides was demonstrated by quantitative determination of dichlorvos, fenthion and diazinon in ethanol solvent. The assay allows determination of OPCs in sub-micromolar concentration ranges with an overall assay time of 10 minutes. The sensing elements of the amperometric AChE biosensor can be stored in dry state for more than 2 months. The AChE biosensor possesses distinct advantages, including monitoring of hydrophobic substrates, elimination of microbial contamination, and relative ease of enzyme immobilization. Potential application areas include food analysis and environmental monitoring.     

Derivatization of Humic Compounds: An Analytical Approach for Bound Organic Residues

Abstract

Bound residues of pesticides and their metabolites are defined as being nonextractable with organic solvents, but partly extractable together with the humic matrix by NaOH or other solvents suitable to extract humic compounds. Recently, an improvement in humus extraction from soils was achieved upon derivatization of the organic matter with silylating reagents at room temperature. By this method 70–90% of the organic carbon or nitrogen either from soil or from humin became soluble in organic solvents. The extracts were analyzed by means of ¹³C NMR-spectroscopy. The spectra were well resolved with signal-separation of less than 1 ppm. The extracted humic compounds were of rather low molecular weight, ranging from 300 to 4000 to 6000 d or more.

¹⁴C-labeled residues of pesticides or other xenobiotics found to be nonextractable after exhaustive organic solvent extraction became readily dissolved along with most of the humic matrix using this derivatization procedure. Between 60–80% of ¹⁴C anilazine residues or of ¹⁴C-labeled chlorinated phenols or anilines originating from both previously solvent extracted soil samples or from humin became solubilized in organic solvents.     

Microwave-assisted solvent elution technique for the extraction of organic pollutants in water

Solid phase extraction (SPE) with appropriate solid sorbents has been commonly used in the routine extraction of organic pollutants in water. The elution of analytes from the solid sorbents normally takes place by organic solvents under an applied vacuum. In this study, a microwave-assisted solvent elution technique was developed for the elution of analytes from C₁₈ membrane disks during microwave irradiation from a microwave extraction system (MES). Several parameters, namely, elution solvent, elution temperature, duration of elution and the volume of solvent which may affect the elution efficiency of microwave-assisted solvent elution (MASE) technique towards organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters (PAEs), organophosphorus pesticides (OPs), fungicides, herbicides and insecticides from the membrane disk were investigated. Good recoveries above 75% were obtained for most of the organic pollutants using the optimum SPE-MASE technique. The effect of sodium chloride and humic acid on the recoveries on the target analytes were also investigated.     

Optimization of headspace solid-phase microextraction for the determination of pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits.

A headspace solid-phase microextraction method has been developed for the determination of 8 pesticides in vegetables and fruits by using gas chromatography with an electron capture detector. Two types of fibers (polyacrylate, 85 microm and polydimethylsiloxane, 100 microm) have been assayed and compared. The main factors: extraction and desorption parameters, ionic strength, and the effects of dilution and organic solvents, were studied and optimized. The optimized procedures resulted in more than 80% recovery for all the investigated vegetable and fruit samples with RSD values below 10%.     

Screen-printed electrode based on AChE for the detection of pesticides in presence of organic solvents

A screen-printed biosensor for the detection of pesticides in water miscible organic solvents is described based on the use of p-aminophenyl acetate as acetylcholinesterase substrate. The oxidation of p-aminophenol, product of the enzymatic reaction was monitored at 100 mV vs. Ag/AgCl screen-printed reference electrode. Miscible organic solvents as ethanol and acetonitrile were tested. The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was immobilised on a screen-printed electrode surface by entrapment in a PVA-SbQ polymer and the catalytic activity of immobilised AChE was studied in the presence of different percentages of organic solvents in buffer solution. The sensor shows good characteristics when experiments were performed in concentrations of organic solvents below 10%. No significant differences were observed when working with 1 and 5% acetonitrile in the reaction media. Detection limits as low as 1.91x10(-8) M paraoxon and 1.24x10(-9) M chlorpyrifos ethyl oxon were obtained when experiments are carried out in 5% acetonitrile.     

Assay of Acetylcholinesterase Activity and Electrochemical Determination of Fenthion in Oil-in-water Emulsion

Organophosphates (OPs) have been widely used as pesticides,insecticides or even chemical warfare agents.Acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) inhibition has been employed to develop verious assay methods for detection of pesticides with the advantages of low cost,simple procedure and quick assay time.The study of acetylcholinesterase (ACHE) activity and OPs inhibition in the solution containing organic solvent is extremely important owing to poor solubility of Ops in water and a higher solubility in organic solvents.     

Electronic Tongue Using an Enzyme Inhibition Biosensor Array for the Resolution of Pesticide Mixtures

An electronic tongue has been developed, employing an array of inhibition biosensors and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). The array of biosensors was formed by three amperometric pesticide biosensors that used different acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzymes: the wild type from electric eel (EE) and two different genetically modified enzymes (B1 and B394). In order to model the response to dichlorvos and carbofuran mixtures, a total amount of 22 solutions were prepared, with random concentrations. Chronoamperometric responses of the biosensor array were used in order to obtain the inhibition bioelectronic tongue. Mean values of concentration of pesticides evaluated were 0.79 nM for dichlorvos and 4.1 nM for carbofuran. Good prediction ability was obtained with correlation coefficients better than 0.918 when the obtained values were compared with those expected for a set of 6 external test samples not used for training.     

Two OPEEs (organic phase enzyme electrodes) used to check the percentage water content in hydrophobic foods and drugs.

The development and optimization of an analytical method using enzymatic biosensors able to operate in organic solvents [organic phase enzyme electrodes (OPEEs)] for the determination of the water content in food fats (butter, margarine) or pharmaceutical or cosmetic ointments is described. The method is based on the increase in enzymatic activity which is related to the increase in the percentage water content in the organic phase into which the biosensor is dipped. The enzymes used to assemble the biosensors were tyrosinase or catalase, the substrates were phenol or p-cresol and tert-butyl hydroperoxide, respectively, and the organic solvents were acetonitrile or dioxane. A gas diffusion amperometric electrode for oxygen measurement was used as electrochemical transducer. The results were compared with those obtained applying the Karl Fischer method to the same food or drug matrices. The correlations among the two methods proved satisfactory, as the difference in the computed values of water content was never higher than 7%. Also, the precision of measurements was acceptable (RSD < 6%) in all the analyses of real matrices.     

Modulation of DNAzyme Activity via Butanol Dehydration

Understanding the activity of biomolecules in cosolvent systems is important for catalysis, separation and developing biosensors. The majority of previously studied solvents are either phase separated with water or miscible with water. Butanol was recently used to extract water for the conjugation of DNA to gold nanoparticles. In this work, the effect of butanol on the activity of a few RNA-cleaving DNAzymes was studied. A 130-fold improvement in sensitivity for the Na⁺-specific EtNa DNAzyme was observed, and butanol also improved the activity of another Na⁺-specific DNAzyme, NaA43T by a few folds. However, when divalent metal ions were used for both EtNa and 17E DNAzymes, the activity was inhibited. A main driven force for enhanced DNAzyme activity is the concentration effect due to butanol dehydration. This study provides insights into the interplay between DNA, metal ions and organic solvents, and such an understanding might be useful for developing sensitive biosensors.     

Quantitative determination of endocrine- disrupting polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorinated pesticides in human serum using gas chromatography with electron-capture detection and tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive, selective and reliable procedure was developed and validated to determine organochlorinated compounds, which have endocrine-disrupting effects, in human serum. Target compounds were selected between polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorinated pesticides. Sample workup consisted of (1) extraction of serum with organic solvents, (2) clean-up of the organic extract using acid treatment with H(2)SO(4), (3) elution of the cleaned-up extract through a liquid column chromatographic system and (4) analysis of the fraction eluted by gas chromatography with electron capture detection (ECD) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) detection. Performance characteristics, such as linearity, sensitivity, precision, accuracy and recovery, of both chromatographic methods were studied. The proposed analytical methodology was applied to determine the target compounds in serum samples from women living in agricultural areas of Almería (Spain). The results show the advantage of MS/MS over ECD in the analysis of real human serum samples where matrix interferences can be confused with target pesticides.     

Evaluation of common organic solvents for gas chromatographic analysis and stability of multiclass pesticide residues

In this study, we evaluated the suitability of six common organic solvents for gas chromatographic (GC) analysis of pesticides. Three of these, acetone, acetonitrile (MeCN) and ethyl acetate (EtAc), represent extraction solvents commonly used in multiresidue methods for determination of pesticides in produce. The other three, isooctane, hexane and toluene, often serve as exchange solvents before a GC analysis. An ideal solvent for GC analysis of multiclass pesticide residues should be compatible with: the analytes, sample preparation, and GC analysis. This study addresses each aspect with emphasis placed on stability of selected pesticides in the given solvents. In this respect, the exchange solvents proved to be superior to the more polar extraction solvents. Degradation of N-trihalomethylthio fungicides (e.g., captan, folpet, dichlofluanid) in MeCN was observed only in certain lots of the tested MeCN, but even if it occurred, the stability of these analytes as well as that of dicofol and chlorothalonil was dramatically improved by the addition of 0.1% (v/v) acetic acid. Dicofol and chlorothalonil were also unstable in acetone, and pesticides with a thioether group (e.g., fenthion, disulfoton) degraded in the tested EtAc. Formation of isomers of certain pyrethroids (deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin) was recorded in the chromatograms from MeCN and acetone solutions, but this effect more likely occurred during the GC injection than in solution. For several reasons, MeCN was found to be the most suitable solvent for extraction of a wide polarity range of pesticide residues from produce. After acidification, the stability of problematic pesticides in MeCN is acceptable, and MeCN can also serve as a medium for GC injection; therefore solvent exchange is generally not required before GC analysis. If sensitivity is an issue in splitless injection, then toluene was demonstrated to be the best exchange solvent due to its miscibility with MeCN and stronger responses of relatively more polar pesticides (e.g., acephate, methamidophos) as compared to hexane and isooctane.     

Determination of polar pesticides in soil by solid phase microextraction coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray/mass spectrometry

The determination of carbamate and triazine pesticides from soil leachates and slurries was investigated using solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray/ mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI/MS). SPME was carried out using fibres with a newly developed 50 μm Carbowax/ template coating which are suitable for relatively polar analytes. These fibers exhibit precisions better than 10% RSD, and are resistant against high contents of organic solvents during desorption. The technique shows a high sampling frequency resulting in an increasing sample throughput.     

A Modulated Tyrosinase Enzyme‐Based Biosensor for Application to the Detection of Dichlorvos and Atrazine Pesticides

A study was been made of tyrosinase amperometric biosensors for the determination of organophosphorus (dichlorvos) and triazine (atrazine) pesticides. The biosensors are based on the competitive inhibition of tyrosinase (Tyr) by the pesticides. Tyr becomes active when the reduced form of the charge‐transfer mediator (1,2‐naphthoquinone‐4‐sulfonic acid (NQS), 1,2‐naphthoquinone (NQ) and 3,5‐di‐tert‐butyl‐1,2‐benzoquinone (t‐BQ) were tested) are electrochemically generated onto the working electrode surface, which permits modulation of the enzymatic activity. The inhibition is reversible as there is a complete recovery of the current due to enzyme activity without the studied pesticides. The charge‐transfer mediators (the quinonic molecules) and the enzyme were co‐immobilized on the working electrode to obtain reagentless biosensors. Kinetic studies in solution were carried out to compare the efficiency of the measurement mechanism.     

电化学生物传感器在污水分析及污水流行病学中的应用进展

近年来,污水流行病学（wastewater-based epidemiology, WBE）已被证明是用来监测社区毒品滥用和公共健康的一种有效评估方法,该方法通过定量分析指定社区污水回收站中污水的药物残留或者代谢物来反推社区中人们对毒品的消耗量并结合指定社区的人口数量对其进行归一化处理. 电化学生物传感器具有响应时间快、成本低、分析样品需求量小、数据分辨率高以及能够现场快速测试等特点,已被广泛应用于疾病快速诊断、环境污染监测、食品安全以及毒品检测等领域. 液相色谱-质谱联用是分析污水中的毒品及其代谢物的主要方法,但随着传感技术尤其是电化学传感器近来的快速发展,也开始被用于研究污水传染病学并可实现现场快速测量. 本文综述了电化学生物传感器在污水中无机污染物（如重金属）、有机污染物（如农药、毒品）、生物分子（如 DNA）以及细菌等微生物分析中的最新进展,同时还论述了目前电化学传感器技术在污水流行病学领域的应用和未来所面临的主要挑战.     

An analytical multi-residue approach for the determination of semi-volatile organic pollutants in pine needles

Vegetation (and pine needles in particular) has been widely used as an alternative to other conventional sampling devices to assess the atmospheric presence of semi-volatile organic contaminants (SVOCs). While most analytical procedures developed focus only on one or two chemical classes, this this work intends to establish a multi-component protocol to quantify brominated flame-retardants (BFRs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and one class of contaminant of emerging concern, the synthetic musks fragrances (SMCs). Pine needles extracts were obtained by ultrasonic solvents extraction (USE), and different cleanup approaches using solid-phase extraction (SPE) employing combinations of sorbents and solvents as well as gel permeation chromatography (GPC) were tested. SPE with alumina followed by GCP yielded the best results, with average recoveries over 80%.     

用于农药残留检测的酶生物传感器

酶生物传感器在农药残留检测方面具有传统检测方法不可比拟的优势.本文介绍了胆碱酯酶和有机磷水解酶在生物传感器中的应用,重点介绍了用于有机磷等农药残留分析的酶生物传感器的种类和研究现状,讨论了几种酶固定化方法存在的优势和局限,指出了目前研究需解决的问题并展望了未来的发展方向.