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This study focused on developing an advanced bitterness sensor designed to minimize interference from common anions such as nitrate (NO3−) and iodide (I−) by incorporating partially dissociated amine compounds into the sensor membrane. The conventional bitter sensor (C00) uses fully dissociated quaternary ammonium salt tetradecyl ammonium bromide (TDAB), which typically exhibits high responses to these anions, leading to inaccurate bitterness assessments. To address this issue, we explored the use of three partially dissociated amines—oleylamine (OAm), dioctadecylamine (DODA), and tridodecylamine (TDA)—as lipids in the membrane components. We fabricated sensor membranes and tested their ion selectivity, interference resistance to anion, and sensitivity to iso-alpha acids (IAAs), representative bitter compounds in beer. The results showed that the membranes with partially dissociated amines significantly reduced anion interference. Notably, the sensitivity of the TDA membrane to IAAs was 80.4 mV/dec in concentration, exceeding the 68.5 mV/dec of the TDAB membrane. This enhanced sensitivity, coupled with reduced anion interference, reveals a novel property of partially dissociated lipids in taste sensors, distinguishing them from fully dissociated lipids. These findings pave the way for the development of sensors that can accurately assess a bitter taste and have potential applications in the food and beverage industry.

Previous studies have reported the development of a taste sensor using a surface modification approach to evaluate umami taste, specifically substances like monosodium L-glutamate (MSG) and monosodium L-aspartate. The sensor was modified with 2,6-dihydroxyterephthalic acid (2,6-DHTA). However, the mechanism underlying umami substance detection in the 2,6-DHTA- treated sensor remains unidentified, as does whether the specific detection is due to an intermolecular interaction between the modifier and the analyte. In this study, 1H-NMR measurements were conducted for a variety of modifiers and analytes in terms of structures, along with taste sensor measurements. By comparing the 1H-NMR spectra and the results of the taste sensor, we suggested that both modifiers and analytes need to meet certain molecular structure conditions to produce intermolecular interactions. The modifier needs to possess intramolecular H-bonds and have carboxyl groups in the para position of the benzene ring, i.e., two carboxyl groups. In conclusion, we validated that the response mechanism of the taste sensor for umami substance measurement proposed in previous studies is reasonable and predicted the binding form of 2,6-DHTA and MSG.

Taste sensors with an allostery approach have been studied to detect non-charged bitter substances, such as xanthine derivatives, used in foods (e.g., caffeine) or pharmaceuticals (e.g., etofylline). In this study, the authors modified a taste sensor with 3-bromo-2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid and used it in conjunction with sensory tests to assess the bitterness of non-charged pharmaceuticals with xanthine scaffolds (i.e., acefylline and doxofylline), as well as allopurinol, an analogue of hypoxanthine. The results show that the sensor was able to differentiate between different levels of sample bitterness. For instance, when assessing a 30 mM sample solution, the sensor response to acefylline was 34.24 mV, which corresponded to the highest level of bitterness (τ = 3.50), while the response to allopurinol was lowest at 2.72 mV, corresponding to relatively weaker bitterness (τ = 0.50). Additionally, this study extended the application of the sensor to detect pentoxifylline, an active pharmaceutical ingredient in pediatric medicines. These results underscore the taste sensor’s value as an additional tool for early-stage assessment and prediction of bitterness in non-charged pharmaceuticals.

Molecular dynamics simulations and functional assays of the transmembrane domain of the sweet taste receptor subunit, TAS1R3 reveal mechanisms on the allostery of sweet receptor activation or inactivation and pH-dependent sensitivity to saccharin.

A taste sensor employs various lipid/polymer membranes with specific physicochemical properties for taste classification and evaluation. However, phosphoric acid di(2-ethylhexyl) ester (PAEE), employed as one of the lipids for the taste sensors, exhibits insufficient selectivity for umami substances. The pH of sample solutions impacts the dissociation of lipids to influence the membrane potential, and the response to astringent substances makes accurate measurement of umami taste difficult. This study aims to develop a novel taste sensor for detecting umami substances like monosodium L-glutamate (MSG) through surface modification, i.e., a methodology previously applied to taste sensors for non-charged bitter substance measurement. Four kinds of modifiers were tested as membrane-modifying materials. By comparing the results obtained from these modifiers, the modifier structure suitable for measuring umami substances was identified. The findings revealed that the presence of carboxyl groups at para-position of the benzene ring, as well as intramolecular H-bonds between the carboxyl group and hydroxyl group, significantly affect the effectiveness of a modifier in the umami substance measurement. The taste sensor treated with this type of modifier showed excellent selectivity for umami substances.

Currently, taste sensors utilizing lipid polymer membranes are utilized to assess the taste of food products quantitatively. During this process, it is crucial to identify and quantify basic tastes, e.g., sourness and sweetness, while ensuring that there is no response to tasteless substances. For instance, suppression of responses to anions, like tasteless NO3− ions contained in vegetables, is essential. However, systematic electrochemical investigations have not been made to achieve this goal. In this study, we fabricated three positively charged lipid polymer membranes containing oleylamine (OAm), trioctylemethylammonium chloride (TOMACl), or tetradodecylammonium bromide (TDAB) as lipids, and sensors that consist of these membranes to investigate the potential change characteristics of these sensors in solutions containing different anions (F−, Cl−, Br−, NO3−, I−). The ability of each anion solution to reduce the positive charge on membranes and shift the membrane potential in the negative direction was in the following order: I− > NO3− > Br− > Cl− > F−. This order well reflected the order of size of the hydrated ions, related to their hydration energy. Additionally, the OAm sensor displayed low ion selectivity, whereas the TOMACl and TDAB sensors showed high ion selectivity related to the OAm sensor. Such features in ion selectivity are suggested to be due to the variation in positive charge with the pH of the environment and packing density of the OAm molecule in the case of the OAm sensor and due to the strong and constant positive charge created by complete ionization of lipids in the case of TOMACl and TDAB sensors. Furthermore, it was revealed that the ion selectivity varies by changing the lipid concentration in each membrane. These results contribute to developing sensor membranes that respond to different anion species selectively and creating taste sensors capable of suppressing responses to tasteless anions.

The saltiness enhancement effect can be produced by adding specific substances to dietary salt (sodium chloride). This effect has been used in salt-reduced food to help people forge healthy eating habits. Therefore, it is necessary to objectively evaluate the saltiness of food based on this effect. In a previous study, sensor electrodes based on lipid/polymer membrane with Na+ ionophore have been proposed to quantify the saltiness enhanced by branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), citric acid, and tartaric acid. In this study, we developed a new saltiness sensor with the lipid/polymer membrane to quantify the saltiness enhancement effect of quinine by replacing a lipid that caused an unexpected initial drop in the previous study with another new lipid. As a result, the concentrations of lipid and ionophore were optimized to produce an expected response. Logarithmic responses have been found on both NaCl samples and quinine-added NaCl samples. The findings indicate the usage of lipid/polymer membranes on novel taste sensors to evaluate the saltiness enhancement effect accurately.

The use of taste sensors with lipid/polymer membranes is one of the methods to evaluate taste. As previously reported, taste sensors can detect non-charged substances such as caffeine by modifying the lipid/polymer membranes with hydroxybenzoic acids (HBAs). The mechanism of caffeine detection by taste sensors was identified to be an allosteric one. Generally, the allosteric mechanism, defined as “regulation at distant sites”, is used to describe the regulation process for proteins. In this study, to improve the sensitivity of taste sensors to caffeine and its analogs using the allosteric mechanism, we used various modifiers of lipid/polymer membranes, and we detected caffeine using taste sensors with the modified membranes. The detection of the caffeine analogs theophylline and theobromine was also analyzed. The results of caffeine detection clarified that the molecular structure underlying the allosteric mechanism capable of effective caffeine detection involves both the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, where the hydroxyl group can form intermolecular H bonds with caffeine. Furthermore, the taste sensors with a modifier, which has the molecular structure underlying the allosteric mechanism, showed high sensitivity to caffeine and caffeine analogs. The use of an allosteric mechanism may help improve the sensitivity of taste sensors to other non-charged pharmaceutical substances, such as dexamethasone and prednisolone, in the future.

Nowadays, the utilization of a taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes is one of the most accurate and objective ways to evaluate the tastes of solutions. However, it has been difficult to evaluate uncharged sweet substances, such as sucrose, because the conventional taste sensor uses the potentiometric measurement, which is mainly based on changes in the surface electric charge density of the membrane. Previous studies have reported that a sweetness sensor called GL1 can evaluate the sweetness of sugars and sugar alcohols, and is commercially available for food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. However, the response mechanism of GL1 has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we focus on clarifying the effect of concentrations and types of metal ions in the conditioning solution on the response mechanism of the sweetness sensor GL1. Moreover, according to the different concentrations and types of metal ions in conditioning solutions, the complex formation and the hydrated radius were considered to influence the membrane potential measured in a reference solution and the sensor responses. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the response mechanism and improve the selectivity and sensitivity of the sweetness sensor.

A taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes is attracting attention as a method to evaluate taste objectively. However, due to the characteristic of detecting taste by changes in membrane potential, taste sensors cannot measure non-charged bitter substances. Many foods and medicines contain non-charged bitter substances, and it is necessary to quantify these tastes with sensors. Therefore, we have been developing taste sensors to detect bitter tastes caused by non-charged substances such as caffeine. In previous studies, a sensor for detecting bitterness caused by caffeine and theobromine, theophylline, was developed, using a membrane modified with hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) as the sensing part. The sensor was designed to form intramolecular hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) between the hydroxy group and carboxy group of HBA and to successively cause the intermolecular H-bonds between HBA and caffeine molecules to be measured. However, whether this sensing principle is correct or not cannot be confirmed from the results of taste sensor measurements. Therefore, in this study, we explored the interaction between HBA and caffeine by 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). By the 1H NMR detection, we confirmed that both the substances interact with each other. Furthermore, the nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) of intermolecular spatial conformation in solution was measured, by which 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,6-DHBA) preferably interacted with caffeine via the H-bonding and stacking configuration between aromatic rings. Identifying the binding form of 2,6-DHBA to caffeine was estimated to predict how the two substances interact.

A taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes can objectively evaluate taste. As previously reported, caffeine can be detected electrically using lipid/polymer membranes modified with hydroxybenzoic acids (HBAs). However, a systematic understanding of how HBAs contribute to caffeine detection is still lacking. In this study, we used various HBAs such as 2,6–dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,6–DHBA) to modify lipid/polymer membranes, and we detected caffeine using a taste sensor with the modified membranes. The effect of the concentrations of the HBAs on caffeine detection was also discussed. The results of the caffeine detection indicated that the response to caffeine and the reference potential measured in a reference solution were affected by the log P and pKa of HBAs. Furthermore, the taste sensor displayed high sensitivity to caffeine when the reference potential was adjusted to an appropriate range by modification with 2,6–DHBA, where the slope of the change in reference potential with increasing 2,6–DHBA concentration was steep. This is helpful in order to improve the sensitivity of taste sensors to other taste substances, such as theophylline and theobromine, in the future.

In this study, we were challenging to identify characteristic compounds in breast cancer cell lines. GC analysis of extracts from the culture media of breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, SK-BR-3, and YMB-1) using a solid-phase Porapak Q extraction revealed that two compounds of moderate volatility, 1-hexadecanol and 5-(Z)-dodecenoic acid, were detected with markedly higher amount than those in the medium of fibroblast cell line (KMST-6). Furthermore, LC-TOF/MS analysis of the extracts clarified that in addition to the above two fatty acids, the amounts of five unsaturated fatty acids [decenoic acid (C10:1), decadienoic acid (C10:2), 5-(Z)-dodecenoic acid (C12:1), 5-(Z)-tetradecenoic acid (C14:1), and tetradecadienoic acid (C14:2)] in MCF-7 medium were higher than those in medium of KMST-6. Interestingly, H2O2-oxidation of 5-(Z)-dodecenoic acid and 5-(Z)-tetradecenoic acid produced volatile aldehydes that were reported as specific volatiles in breath from various cancer patients, such as heptanal, octanal, nonanal, decanal, 2-(E)-nonenal, and 2-(E)-octenal. Thus, we concluded that these identified compounds over-produced in breast cancer cells in this study could serve as potential precursors producing reported cancer-specific volatiles.

The lipid phosphoric acid di-n-decyl ester (PADE) has played an important role in the development of taste sensors. As previously reported, however, the concentration of PADE and pH of the solution affected the dissociation of H+, which made the measurement results less accurate and stable. In addition, PADE caused deterioration in the response to bitterness because PADE created the acidic environment in the membrane. To solve these problems, our past study tried to replace the PADE with a completely dissociated substance called tetrakis [3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) phenyl] borate sodium salt dehydrate (TFPB) as lipid. To find out whether the two substances can be effectively replaced, it is necessary to perform an in-depth study on the properties of the two membranes themselves. In this study, we fabricated two types of membrane electrodes, based on PADE or TFPB, respectively, using 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) as a plasticizer. We measured the selectivity to cations such as Cs+, K+, Na+ and Li+, and also the membrane impedance of the membranes comprising PADE or TFPB of the different concentrations. As a result, we found that any concentration of PADE membranes always had low ion selectivity, while the ion selectivity of TFPB membranes was concentration-dependent, showing increasing ion selectivity with the TFPB concentrations. The ion selectivity order was Cs+>K+>Na+>Li+. The hydration of ions was considered to participate in this phenomenon. In addition, the membrane impedance decreased with increasing PADE and TFPB concentrations, while the magnitudes differed, implying that there is a difference in the dissociation of the two substances. The obtained results will contribute to the development of novel receptive membranes of taste sensors.

An odor sensing system with chemosensitive resistors was used to identify the gases generated from overheated cables to prevent fire. Three different electric cables for a distribution cabinet were used. The cables had an insulation layer made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). The heat resistance of the cables was tested by differential thermal and thermogravimetric analyses. The thermal decomposition products of the cables were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). For the odor sensing system, two types of 16-channel array were used to detect the generated gases. One contains high-polarity GC stationary phase materials and the other contains GC stationary phase materials of high to low polarity. The system could distinguish among three cable samples at 270 °C with an accuracy of about 75% through both arrays trained with machine learning. Furthermore, the system could achieve a recall rate of 90% and a precision rate of 70% when the abnormal temperature was set above the cables’ allowable conductor temperature at 130 °C. The odor sensing system could effectively detect the abnormal heating of the cables before the occurrence of fire. Therefore, it is helpful for fire prediction and detection systems in factories and substations.

Technologies for quantifying bitterness are essential for classifying medicines. As previously reported, taste sensors with lipid polymer membranes can respond to bitter hydrochloride substances in pharmaceuticals. However, the acid hydrolysis reaction between the lipid phosphoric acid di-n-decyl ester (PADE) and the plasticizer tributyl o-acetylcitrate (TDAB) led to a deterioration in sensor responses during storage. Given the cost of transportation and preservation for commercialization, membrane components that maintain physical and chemical stability during long-term storage are needed. Here we present a membrane electrode based on hydrophobic tetrakis [3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) phenyl] borate (TFPB) and a plasticizer 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) for the quantification of pharmaceutical bitterness; they maintain a stable response before and after accelerated deterioration, as well as high selectivity and sensitivity. It is a first attempt to use a completely dissociative substance to replace non-completely dissociative lipids. Our work offsets the long-term stability issue of a bitterness sensor with a negatively charged hydrophobic membrane. Meanwhile, we provide the opportunity to select surface charge modifiers for a membrane surface using ester plasticizers containing oppositely charged impurities.

A taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes is one of the devices that can evaluate taste objectively. However, the conventional taste sensor cannot measure non-charged bitter substances, such as caffeine contained in coffee, because the taste sensor uses the potentiometric measurement based mainly on change in surface electric charge density of the membrane. In this study, we aimed at the detection of typical non-charged bitter substances such as caffeine, theophylline and theobromine included in beverages and pharmaceutical products. The developed sensor is designed to detect the change in the membrane potential by using a kind of allosteric mechanism of breaking an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the carboxy group and hydroxy group of aromatic carboxylic acid (i.e., hydroxy-, dihydroxy-, and trihydroxybenzoic acids) when non-charged bitter substances are bound to the hydroxy group. As a result of surface modification by immersing the sensor electrode in a modification solution in which 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic acid was dissolved, it was confirmed that the sensor response increased with the concentration of caffeine as well as allied substances. The threshold and increase tendency were consistent with those of human senses. The detection mechanism is discussed by taking into account intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonds, which cause allostery. These findings suggest that it is possible to evaluate bitterness caused by non-charged bitter substances objectively by using the taste sensor with allosteric mechanism.

We have developed a method to quantify the sweetness of negatively charged high-potency sweeteners coexisting with other taste substances. This kind of sweetness sensor uses lipid polymer membranes as the taste-sensing part. Two types of outputs have been defined in the measurement of the taste sensor: one is the relative value and the other is the CPA (the change in membrane potential caused by adsorption) value. The CPA value shows a good selectivity for high-potency sweeteners. On the other hand, the relative value is several times higher than the CPA value, but the relative value is influenced by salty substances. In order to obtain both high sensitivity and selectivity, we established a model for predicting the concentration of sweeteners with a nonlinear regression analysis method using the relative values of both the sweetness sensor and the saltiness sensor. The analysis results showed good correlations with the estimated concentration of acesulfame potassium coexisting with salty substances, as represented by R2 = 0.99. This model can correspond well to the prediction of acesulfame K in a concentration of 0.2−0.7 mM, which is commonly used in food and beverages. The results obtained in this paper suggest that this method is useful for the evaluation of acesulfame K using the taste sensors.

It is possible to evaluate the taste of foods or medicines using a taste sensor. The taste sensor converts information on taste into an electrical signal using several lipid/polymer membranes. A lipid/polymer membrane for bitterness sensing can evaluate aftertaste after immersion in monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is called “preconditioning”. However, we have not yet analyzed the change in the surface structure of the membrane as a result of preconditioning. Thus, we analyzed the change in the surface by performing contact angle and surface zeta potential measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS) and gas cluster ion beam time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (GCIB-TOF-SIMS). After preconditioning, the concentrations of MSG and tetradodecylammonium bromide (TDAB), contained in the lipid membrane were found to be higher in the surface region than in the bulk region. The effect of preconditioning was revealed by the above analysis methods.

A taste sensor using lipid-polymer membranes has been developed to evaluate the taste of foods, beverages and medicines. The response of the taste sensor, measured as a change in the membrane potential caused by adsorption (CPA), corresponds to the aftertaste felt by humans. The relationships between the CPA value and the amount of adsorbed taste substances, quinine and iso-α acid (bitterness), and tannic acid (astringency), have been studied so far. However, that of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) has not been clarified, although EGCg is abundantly present in green tea as one of its astringent substances. This study aimed at clarifying the response of the taste sensor to EGCg and its relationship with the amount of EGCg adsorbed onto lipid-polymer membranes. The lipid concentration dependence of the CPA value was similar to that of the amount of adsorbed EGCg, indicating a high correlation between the CPA value and the amount of adsorbed EGCg. The CPA value increased with increasing amount of adsorbed EGCg; however, the CPA value showed a tendency of leveling off when the amount of adsorbed EGCg further increased.

The bitterness of bitter substances can be measured by the change in the membrane electric potential caused by adsorption (CPA) using a taste sensor (electronic tongue). In this study, we examined the relationship between the CPA value due to an acidic bitter substance and the amount of the bitter substance adsorbed onto lipid/polymer membranes, which contain different lipid contents, used in the taste sensor. We used iso-α-acid which is an acidic bitter substance found in several foods and beverages. The amount of adsorbed iso-α-acid, which was determined by spectroscopy, showed a maximum at the lipid concentration 0.1 wt % of the membrane, and the same phenomenon was observed for the CPA value. At the higher lipid concentration, however, the amount adsorbed decreased and then remained constant, while the CPA value decreased monotonically to zero. This constant adsorption amount was observed when the membrane potential in the reference solution did not change with increasing lipid concentration. The decrease in CPA value in spite of the constant adsorption amount is caused by a decrease in the sensitivity of the membrane as the surface charge density increases. The reason why the peaks appeared in both the CPA value and adsorption amount is based on the contradictory adsorption properties of iso-α-acid. The increasing charged lipid concentration of the membrane causes an increasing electrostatic attractive interaction between iso-α-acid and the membrane, but simultaneously causes a decreasing hydrophobic interaction that results in decreasing adsorption of iso-α-acid, which also has hydrophobic properties, onto the membrane. Estimates of the amount of adsorption suggest that iso-α-acid molecules are adsorbed onto both the surface and interior of the membrane.

This review describes an “electronic dog nose” based on a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor and an antigen–antibody interaction for security and safety. We have concentrated on developing appropriate sensor surfaces for the SPR sensor for practical use. The review covers different surface fabrications, which all include variations of a self-assembled monolayer containing oligo(ethylene glycol), dendrimer, and hydrophilic polymer. We have carried out detection of explosives using the sensor surfaces. For the SPR sensor to detect explosives, the vapor or particles of the target substances have to be dissolved in a liquid. Therefore, we also review the development of sampling processes for explosives, and a protocol for the measurement of explosives on the SPR sensor in the field. Additionally, sensing elements, which have the potential to be applied for the electronic dog nose, are described.

Taste evaluation technology has been developed by several methods, such as sensory tests, electronic tongues and a taste sensor based on lipid/polymer membranes. In particular, the taste sensor can individually quantify five basic tastes without multivariate analysis. However, it has proven difficult to develop a sweetness sensor, because sweeteners are classified into three types according to the electric charges in an aqueous solution; that is, no charge, negative charge and positive charge. Using membrane potential measurements, the taste-sensing system needs three types of sensor membrane for each electric charge type of sweetener. Since the commercially available sweetness sensor was only intended for uncharged sweeteners, a sweetness sensor for positively charged high-potency sweeteners such as aspartame was developed in this study. Using a lipid and plasticizers, we fabricated various lipid/polymer membranes for the sweetness sensor to identify the suitable components of the sensor membranes. As a result, one of the developed sensors showed responses of more than 20 mV to 10 mM aspartame and less than 5 mV to any other taste. The responses of the sensor depended on the concentration of aspartame. These results suggested that the developed sweetness sensor had high sensitivity to and high selectivity for aspartame.

Recently, highly functional biosensors have been developed in preparation for possible large-scale terrorist attacks using chemical warfare agents. Practically applicable sensors are required to have various abilities, such as high portability and operability, the capability of performing rapid and continuous measurement, as well as high sensitivity and selectivity. We developed the detection method of capsaicinoids, the main component of some lachrymators, using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunosensor as an on-site detection sensor. Homovanillic acid, which has a vanillyl group similar to capsaicinoids such as capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, was bound to Concholepas concholepas hemocyanin (CCH) for use as an immunogen to generate polyclonal antibodies. An indirect competitive assay was carried out to detect capsaicinoids using SPR sensor chips on which different capsaicin analogues were immobilized. For the sensor chip on which 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylamine hydrochloride was immobilized, a detection limit of 150 ppb was achieved. We found that the incubation time was not required and the detection can be completed in five minutes.

In this study, we developed a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor chip based on 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) recognition peptide-modified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The carboxylic acid-functionalized SWCNTs were immobilized on a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-modified SPR Au chip surface. Through π-stacking between the aromatic amino acids and SWCNTs, the TNT recognition peptide TNTHCDR3 was immobilized onto the surface of the SWCNTs. The peptide⁻SWCNTs-modified sensor surface was confirmed and evaluated by atomic force microscope (AFM) observation. The peptide⁻SWCNTs hybrid SPR sensor chip exhibited enhanced sensitivity with a limit of detection (LOD) of 772 ppb and highly selective detection compared with commercialized carboxymethylated dextran matrix sensor chips.

In this study, we modified a surface plasmon resonance immunosensor chip with a polymer using surface-initiated atom transfer polymerization (SI-ATRP) for the highly sensitive detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). To immobilize a TNT analogue on the polymer, mono-2-(methacryloyloxy)ethylsuccinate (MES), which has a carboxyl group, was used in this study. However, the anti-TNT antibody may adsorb non-specifically on the polymer surface by an electrostatic interaction because MES is negatively charged. Therefore, a mixed monomer with MES and diethylaminoethylmethacrylate (DEAEM), which has a tertiary amino group and is positively charged, was prepared to obtain electroneutrality for suppressing the nonspecific adsorption. The detection of TNT was performed by inhibition assay using the polymer surface. To ensure high sensitivity to TNT, the affinity between the surface and the antibody was optimized by controlling the density of the initiator for ATRP by mixing two types of self-assembled monolayer reagents. As a result, a limit of detection of 5.7 pg/mL (ppt) for TNT was achieved using the optimized surface.

We have developed a new portable taste sensor with a lipid/polymer membrane and conducted experiments to evaluate the sensor’s performance. The fabricated sensor consists of a taste sensor chip (40 mm × 26 mm × 2.2 mm) with working and reference electrodes and a portable sensor device (80 mm × 25 mm × 20 mm). The working electrode consists of a taste-sensing site comprising a poly(hydroxyethyl)methacrylate (pHEMA) hydrogel layer with KCl as the electrolyte layer and a lipid/polymer membrane as the taste sensing element. The reference electrode comprises a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane layer with a small hole and a pHEMA layer with KCl. The whole device is the size of a USB memory stick, making it suitable for portable use. The sensor’s response to tannic acid as the standard astringency substance showed good accuracy and reproducibility, and was comparable with the performance of a commercially available taste sensing system. Thus, it is possible for this sensor to be used for in-field evaluations and it can make a significant contribution to the food industry, as well as in various fields of research.

The current study demonstrated that theasinensin A (TSA) had a potential to form the complex with hydrophobic Trp-containing dipeptides, and to reduce their membrane potential by artificial-lipid membrane taste sensor. At a 1:3 molar ratio of the 6 Trp-containing dipeptides together with TSA, we observed a significant chemical shift of the protons of the dipeptides (Δδ) to a high magnetic field, when analyzed using 1H-nuclear-magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The Δδ values were correlated with the hydrophobicity (log P) of the dipeptides and significant correlations were obtained (P = 0.022, R2 = 0.77); e.g., Trp-Leu with the highest log P value of 1.623 among the tested dipeptides showed the highest Δδ value of 0.105 ppm for the H7 proton of Trp-Leu, while less chemical shifts were observed in theasinensin B and epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate. Diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy revealed that the diffusion coefficient of 3 mM of Trp-Leu (7.6 × 10-11 m2/s) at a pulse field gradient in the range 0.05-0.3 T/m decreased in the presence of 3 mM TSA (6.6 × 10-11 m2/s), suggesting that Trp-Leu forms a complex with TSA. Quantum mechanical calculations and rotating frame nuclear Overhauser effect-NMR spectroscopy provided configuration information on the geometry of the complex that Trp-Leu formed with TSA (1:1 complex) with a ΔG energy of -8.7 kJ/mol. A sensor analysis using artificial-lipid membranes demonstrated that the changes in membrane potential of 1 mM Trp-Leu (21.8 ± 1.3 mV) and Leu-Trp (5.3 ± 0.9 mV) were significantly (P < 0.001) reduced by 1 mM TSA (Trp-Leu, 13.1 ± 2.4 mV; Leu-Trp, 3.5 ± 0.5 mV; TSA alone, 0.2 ± 0.01 mV), indicating the effective suppression of hydrophobicity of dipeptides by TSA-formed complex.

A miniaturized taste sensor chip was designed for use in a portable-type taste sensing system. The fabricated sensor chip (40 mm × 26 mm × 2.2 mm) has multiple taste-sensing sites consisting of a poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) hydrogel with KCl as the electrolyte layer for stability of the membrane potential and artificial lipid membranes as the taste sensing elements. The sensor responses to the standard taste substances showed high accuracy and good reproducibility, which is comparable with the performance of the sensor probe of the commercialized taste sensing system. Thus, the fabricated taste sensor chip could be used as a key element for the realization of a portable-type taste sensing system.

Effective R&D and strict quality control of a broad range of foods, beverages, and pharmaceutical products require objective taste evaluation. Advanced taste sensors using artificial-lipid membranes have been developed based on concepts of global selectivity and high correlation with human sensory score. These sensors respond similarly to similar basic tastes, which they quantify with high correlations to sensory score. Using these unique properties, these sensors can quantify the basic tastes of saltiness, sourness, bitterness, umami, astringency and richness without multivariate analysis or artificial neural networks. This review describes all aspects of these taste sensors based on artificial lipid, ranging from the response principle and optimal design methods to applications in the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical markets.

This paper reports the improvement of a bitterness sensor based on a lipid polymer membrane consisting of phosphoric acid di-n-decyl ester (PADE) as a lipid and bis(1-butylpentyl) adipate (BBPA) and tributyl o-acetylcitrate (TBAC) as plasticizers. Although the commercialized bitterness sensor (BT0) has high sensitivity and selectivity to the bitterness of medicines, the sensor response gradually decreases to almost zero after two years at room temperature and humidity in a laboratory. To reveal the reason for the deterioration of the response, we investigated sensor membranes by measuring the membrane potential, contact angle, and adsorption amount, as well as by performing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We found that the change in the surface charge density caused by the hydrolysis of TBAC led to the deterioration of the response. The acidic environment generated by PADE promoted TBAC hydrolysis. Finally, we succeeded in fabricating a new membrane for sensing the bitterness of medicines with higher durability and sensitivity by adjusting the proportions of the lipid and plasticizers.

In this study, a rationally-designed 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) binding peptide derived from an amino acid sequence of the complementarity-determining region (CDR) of an anti-TNT monoclonal antibody was used for TNT detection based on a maleimide-functionalized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. By antigen-docking simulation and screening, the TNT binding candidate peptides were obtained as TNTHCDR1 derived from the heavy chain of CDR1, TNTHCDR2 derived from CDR2, and TNTHCDR3 from CDR3 of an anti-TNT antibody. The binding events between candidate peptides and TNT were evaluated using the SPR sensor by direct determination based on the 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) surface. The TNT binding peptide was directly immobilized on the maleimide-functionalized sensor chip surface from N-γ-maleimidobutyryl-oxysuccinimide ester (GMBS). The results demonstrated that peptide TNTHCDR3 was identified and selected as a TNT binding peptide among the other two candidate peptides. Five kinds of TNT analogues were also investigated to testify the selectivity of TNT binding peptide TNTHCDR3. Furthermore, the results indicated that the APTES-GMBS-based SPR sensor chip procedure featured a great potential application for the direct detection of TNT.

Mimicking the biological olfaction, large odor-sensor arrays can be used to acquire a broad range of chemical information, with a potentially high degree of redundancy, to allow for enhanced control over the sensitivity and selectivity of artificial olfaction systems. The arrays should consist of the largest possible number of individual sensing elements while being miniaturized. Chemosensitive resistors are one of the sensing platforms that have a potential to satisfy these two conditions. In this work we test viability of fabricating a 16-element chemosensitive resistor array for detection and recognition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The sensors were fabricated using blends of carbon black and gas chromatography (GC) stationary-phase materials preselected based on their sorption properties. Blends of the selected GC materials with carbon black particles were subsequently coated over chemosensitive resistor devices and the resulting sensors/arrays evaluated in exposure experiments against vapors of pyrrole, benzenal, nonanal, and 2-phenethylamine at 150, 300, 450, and 900 ppb. Responses of the fabricated 16-element array were stable and differed for each individual odorant sample, proving the blends of GC materials with carbon black particles can be effectively used for fabrication of large odor-sensing arrays based on chemosensitive resistors. The obtained results suggest that the proposed sensing devices could be effective in discriminating odor/vapor samples at the sub-ppm level.

The detection and recognition of metabolically derived aldehydes, which have been identified as important products of oxidative stress and biomarkers of cancers; are considered as an effective approach for early cancer detection as well as health status monitoring. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor arrays based on molecularly imprinted sol-gel (MISG) materials were developed in this work for highly sensitive detection and highly selective recognition of typical aldehyde vapors including hexanal (HAL); nonanal (NAL) and bezaldehyde (BAL). The MISGs were prepared by a sol-gel procedure using two matrix precursors: tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and tetrabutoxytitanium (TBOT). Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APT); diethylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane (EAP) and trimethoxy-phenylsilane (TMP) were added as functional monomers to adjust the imprinting effect of the matrix. Hexanoic acid (HA); nonanoic acid (NA) and benzoic acid (BA) were used as psuedotemplates in view of their analogous structure to the target molecules as well as the strong hydrogen-bonding interaction with the matrix. Totally 13 types of MISGs with different components were prepared and coated on QCM electrodes by spin coating. Their sensing characters towards the three aldehyde vapors with different concentrations were investigated qualitatively. The results demonstrated that the response of individual sensors to each target strongly depended on the matrix precursors; functional monomers and template molecules. An optimization of the 13 MISG materials was carried out based on statistical analysis such as principle component analysis (PCA); multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). The optimized sensor array consisting of five channels showed a high discrimination ability on the aldehyde vapors; which was confirmed by quantitative comparison with a randomly selected array. It was suggested that both the molecularly imprinting (MIP) effect and the matrix effect contributed to the sensitivity and selectivity of the optimized sensor array. The developed MISGs were expected to be promising materials for the detection and recognition of volatile aldehydes contained in exhaled breath or human body odor.

A taste sensor that uses lipid/polymer membranes can evaluate aftertastes felt by humans using Change in membrane Potential caused by Adsorption (CPA) measurements. The sensor membrane for evaluating bitterness, which is caused by acidic bitter substances such as iso-alpha acid contained in beer, needs an immersion process in monosodium glutamate (MSG) solution, called “MSG preconditioning”. However, what happens to the lipid/polymer membrane during MSG preconditioning is not clear. Therefore, we carried out three experiments to investigate the changes in the lipid/polymer membrane caused by the MSG preconditioning, i.e., measurements of the taste sensor, measurements of the amount of the bitterness substance adsorbed onto the membrane and measurements of the contact angle of the membrane surface. The CPA values increased as the preconditioning process progressed, and became stable after 3 d of preconditioning. The response potentials to the reference solution showed the same tendency of the CPA value change during the preconditioning period. The contact angle of the lipid/polymer membrane surface decreased after 7 d of MSG preconditioning; in short, the surface of the lipid/polymer membrane became hydrophilic during MSG preconditioning. The amount of adsorbed iso-alpha acid was increased until 5 d preconditioning, and then it decreased. In this study, we revealed that the CPA values increased with the progress of MSG preconditioning in spite of the decrease of the amount of iso-alpha acid adsorbed onto the lipid/polymer membrane, and it was indicated that the CPA values increase because the sensor sensitivity was improved by the MSG preconditioning.

In this paper, we discuss and utilize the multiple-reflection attenuated total reflectance (ATR) method of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for the determination of glycogen content in Japanese wagyu beef. We have also conducted experiments on diffuse reflection to compare the experimental results. Glycogen, as a reservoir of glucose units, has a positive effect on the palatability of wagyu beef. The obtained nontreated spectra were preprocessed by several different methods, then a calibration and prediction model between spectral data and glycogen content was developed by partial least squares regression (PLSR). We found that when the multiple-reflection ATR method and the diffuse reflection method are used for NIR spectroscopy methods, there is a significant difference in their ability to predict the glycogen content in wagyu beef. The determination coefficient of the best prediction model for the spectra obtained by the multiple-reflection ATR method was 0.72 for the measurement of glycogen content in wagyu beef, whereas that obtained by the diffuse reflection method was only 0.29. Through experiments and data analysis, we found that the multiple-reflection ATR method is promising for predicting glycogen content in wagyu beef. The results of these experiments have important implications for the development of future small portable beef glycogen sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]