Author(s): Nunes, João C. F. ; Neves, Márcia C. ; Freire, Mara G. ; Tavares, Ana P. M.
Date: 2024
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/42472
Origin: RIA - Repositório Institucional da Universidade de Aveiro
Subject(s): L-asparaginase; Portable colorimetric sensor; L-asparagine detection
L-asparaginase (ASNase) is an amidohydrolase enzyme used in the pharmaceutical industry as an anticancer agent in lymphoproliferative disorders treatment. ASNase is also applied in biosensors for L-asparagine detection in blood serum samples of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients. Nevertheless, the high cost of non-portable and sensitive L-asparagine detection methods, mainly performed by chromatography, highlights the need to develop portable and low-cost colorimetric sensors for the detection of L-asparagine. In this work, supported ionic liquids (SIL) materials based on silica fabric functionalized with quaternary ammonium cations and the Cl− anion, viz. silica fabric functionalized with dimethylbutylpropylammonium chloride ([SF][N3114]Cl) and silica fabric functionalized with triethylpropylammonium chloride ([SF][N3222]Cl), were synthesized, and chemically and morphologically characterized. The developed SIL materials were studied as portable colorimetric sensors for the detection of L-asparagine in aqueous samples, i.e., aqueous solution of L-asparagine or commercial blood serum spiked with different L-asparagine concentration levels (10-1 M - 10-5 M). It is shown that portable and low-cost SIL allow the fast and accurate L-asparagine detection at different concentration levels.
