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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.

In this study, we developed an odor sensor system using chemosensitive resistors, which outputted multichannel data. Mixtures of gas chromatography stationary materials (GC materials) and carbon black were used as the chemosensitive resistors. The interaction between the chemosensitive resistors and gas species shifted the electrical resistance of the resistors. Sixteen different chemosensitive resistors were fabricated on an odor sensor chip. In addition, a compact measurement instrument was fabricated. Sixteen channel data were obtained from the measurements of gas species using the instrument. The data were analyzed using machine learning algorithms available on Weka software. As a result, the sensor system successfully identified alcoholic beverages. Finally, we demonstrated the classification of restroom odor in a field test. The classification was successful with an accuracy of 97.9%.

The aim of our study was to enhance the reusability of a taste sensor by increasing the efficiency of the cleaning process. In this paper, we proposed a surfactant cleaning method for two types of bitterness sensor using lipid polymer membranes with high hydrophobicity. To select suitable surfactants for cleaning, the usability of four types of surfactant with different polarities and ionicities was evaluated. Among these surfactants, the anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) showed no impact on the initial membrane potential and completely removed residue substances of high-concentration quinine hydrochloride adsorbed on the bitterness sensor used for hydrochloride salts. On the other hand, the amphoteric surfactant lauryl dimethylaminoacetic acid (LDA) showed no impact on the initial membrane potential and almost completely removed residue substances of high-concentration iso- $\alpha $ acid adsorbed on the bitterness sensor used for acidic bitter materials. Moreover, we found that the combined use of the conventional cleaning solution and LDA acid solution in turn greatly improved the reusability of an astringency sensor in multiple measurements of black tea.

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.

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.

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 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&ndash, 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.

In this study, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) binding peptide was synthesized and screened for TNT specific detection using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. The TNT binding peptide was rational design and synthesized through amino acid sequence from complementarity determining region (CDR) in the anti-TNT monoclonal antibody, which was produced from hybridoma cell using TNP-KLH conjugate as antigen. Three TNT binding peptide sequences were obtained from the heavy chain of CDR1 named TNTHCDR1, TNTHCDR2 from CDR2 and TNTHCDR3 from CDR3 of anti-TNT antibody. Screening process of three candidate peptides were carried out by using the SPR sensor with direct determination, which the peptide was directly immobilized on the sensor chip CM7 surface through amine coupling reaction. The results demonstrated that peptide TNTHCDR3 was determined as TNT binding peptide and no non-specific binding was observed. The selectivity of TNT binding peptide TNTHCDR3 was also testified by six kinds of TNT analogues. The results indicated the specific binding between TNT and peptide TNTHCDR3.

A taste sensor based on lipid/polymer membranes has been reported being possible to detect the masking of bitter substances or masking on bitterness receptors (physical masking or biochemical masking). However, it was difficult to express the bitterness suppression by sweeteners, which is decided by the balance of substances produced in human’s brain (functional masking). High-potency sweeteners are one of the sweeteners used for bitterness-masking in food and pharmaceutical industry. The objective of this study is to evaluate the bitterness-masking effect of high-potency sweeteners using the taste sensor. A bitterness sensor was used to evaluate the bitterness of quinine hydrochloride, and sweetness sensors for high-potency sweeteners were used to evaluate the sweetness of aspartame and saccharine sodium. The sensory evaluation was also carried out to examine the bitterness suppression effect of high-potency sweeteners. The bitterness-prediction formulas were proposed with the aid of a model regression analysis using two outputs from the bitterness sensor and the sweetness sensor for high-potency sweeteners. As a result, the predicted bitterness showed a good correlation with the human taste when aspartame or saccharine sodium was added to quinine hydrochloride. Thus, this study provided an effective method to evaluate the bitterness suppressed by high-potency sweeteners.

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 &pi, stacking between the aromatic amino acids and SWCNTs, the TNT recognition peptide TNTHCDR3 was immobilized onto the surface of the SWCNTs. The peptide&ndash, SWCNTs-modified sensor surface was confirmed and evaluated by atomic force microscope (AFM) observation. The peptide&ndash, 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.

Electronic tongues have been identified as useful tools for quantifying the taste of food and beverages. However, the bitterness evaluation of coffee in the presence of high-potency sweeteners has not been performed yet. In this study, we investigated an approach to quantify the bitterness of coffee with different roasting degrees and the sweetness of acesulfame potassium (Ace K) added to the coffee using taste sensors with lipid polymer membranes. A formula for predicting coffee bitterness with the addition of Ace K was proposed using the responses of a bitterness sensor and a sweetness sensor. We found that the predicted coffee bitterness showed a good correlation with human taste.

The saltiness enhancement effect is the effect whereby saltiness is enhanced by adding specific substances to salt (sodium chloride). Since this effect can be used in the development of salt-reduced foods, a method to objectively evaluate the saltiness with this effect is required. A taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes has been used to quantify the taste of food and beverages in recent years. The sensor electrodes of this taste sensor have the feature of selectively responding to each of the five basic tastes, which is realized by the lipid/polymer membranes. In this study, we developed a new saltiness sensor based on the lipid/polymer membrane with the aim of quantifying the saltiness enhancement effect. In addition to the conventional components of a lipid, plasticizer, and polymer supporting reagent, the membrane we developed comprises ionophores, which selectively capture sodium ions. As a result, the response of the sensor increased logarithmically with the activity of NaCl in measured samples, similarly to the taste response of humans. In addition, all of the sensor responses increased upon adding saltiness-enhancing substances, such as citric acid, tartaric acid and branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), to NaCl samples. These findings suggest that it is possible to quantify the saltiness enhancement effect using a taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes.

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.

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.

Objective taste evaluation has been much in demand in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. A taste-sensing system, which is an electronic tongue with “global selectivity,” is one of the methods used for objective taste evaluation. A taste sensor electrode responds to only one of the basic tastes (saltiness, sourness, sweetness, bitterness and umami) as a change in membrane potential caused by interactions with tastants. Sweet substances are compounds with diverse chemical structures and sizes. Since the taste-sensing system is a potentiometric measurement system using a change in membrane potential, three types of sweetness sensors are required, one for sweeteners with each type of electric charge (uncharged, positively charged and negatively charged). A sweetness sensor for uncharged sweeteners has been developed. Therefore, negatively charged sweeteners, such as saccharine sodium and acesulfame potassium, were chosen as the target substances in this study. We investigated the responses of various sensor membranes using a lipid and nine kinds of plasticizers to each basic taste sample. Furthermore, not only the selectivity of the membranes but also the concentration dependence of their response to sweeteners was investigated. As a result, one of the developed sensors showed responses of over 20 mV to 5 mM saccharine sodium and 10 mM acesulfame potassium in CPA value measurement (CPA: change in membrane potential caused by adsorption). On the other hand, the sensor also showed nearly zero responses to other basic taste samples. In addition, saltiness was the only interfering taste, and the responses to target substances in relative value measurement were over 140 mV. The developed sweetness sensor had high selectivity and concentration-dependent responses. Hence, we concluded that the sensor is suitable for use as a sweetness sensor for high-potency sweeteners with a negative electric charge.

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.

Sensing technologies for objective evaluation such as the discrimination and quantification of tastes have been developed since around 1990, before the discovery of taste receptors. Electronic tongues aim to discriminate and analyze foods and beverages and are well known as sensing technologies that greatly contribute to quality management. A taste sensor, i.e., an electronic tongue with global selectivity, is developed to realize a sensor that responds to taste chemical substances and can be used to quantify the type of taste focusing on the fact that humans discriminate the taste of foods and beverages on the tongue with the five basic tastes. In this paper, we focus on the taste sensor and describe its sensing principle, its difference from general electronic tongues that do not aim to quantify tastes, examples of its use, and the recent trend of research of electronic tongues.

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.

In this study, we quantified the tastes of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and demonstrated the bitterness suppression effect using taste sensors that can selectively evaluate two basic taste qualities. Bitterness and sweetness sensors with a lipid/polymer membrane were used to quantity bitterness and sweetness of amino acids, respectively. Simple linear regression analysis revealed that the response values obtained from the corresponding taste sensor (bitterness, sweetness) and the scores obtained in the sensory test showed a strong correlation, demonstrating that the intensity of bitterness and sweetness of amino acids can be estimated. Moreover, a significant decrease in the response value of the bitterness sensor was observed when l -arginine ( l -Arg) was added to bitter amino acids, indicating that the bitterness suppression effect perceivable by humans can be demonstrated.

To detect 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) using a displacement method over a surface plasmon resonance immunosensor, we developed sensor surfaces modified with a poly-(N-vinylformamideco-vinylamine), which was synthesized from a monomer, N-vinylformamide, and was hydrolyzed to produce amine groups, and TNT analogs. Poly-(N-vinylformamide-co-vinylamine) that reacted with succinic acid was used as a matrix of a sensor surface for increasing the number of antibody binding sites. 2,4-Dinitrophenyl glycine, 3-nitrophenyl acetic acid, and 4-nitrophenyl acetic acid were immobilized on the polymer-modified sensor surfaces. We evaluated the suppression ability of the sensor surface for nonspecific adsorption and determined the limit of detection (LOD) for TNT. As a result, a sensor chip suppressed nonspecific adsorption for 1 mg/mL bovine serum albumin and lysozyme. TNT was measured by the displacement method, and the LOD achieved over a 3-nitrophenyl acetic acid-modified sensor chip was 0.9 ng/mL (ppb).

A chemiresistive sensor based on polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers decorated with highly dispersed gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is developed to detect the volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) of human expired breath. The PANI nanofibers with a characteristic of horizontal orientation on the insulating gap area of an interdigitated electrode are prepared by a temple-free electrochemical polymerization. The formation of the fine AuNPs on the PANI nanofibers is realized by the redox reaction between HAuCl 4 and PANI in the form of emeraldine. The PANI/AuNPs sensors exhibit good sensing responses to H 2 S and CH 3 SH gases. The sensing ability of the fabricated electrodes on VSCs contained in human breath is confirmed by their response upon exposure to the expired breath of a healthy volunteer after ingesting raw garlic. The developed nanosensors, together with a multichannel sensing system, are expected to be used in breath analysis and disease diagnose related to malodor biomarker gases.

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.

Taste sensor responds to different taste qualities by unique patterns of output signals. The sensor uses lipid membranes as recognition element of tastes. Food constituents affect the membrane potential of the sensor mainly with shielding effect and/or adsorption. However suitable concentration of lipid in membrane has not been studied up to now. In this paper, we changed the concentration of lipid dioctyl phosphate (C) and trioctylmethyl ammonium chloride (T) in membranes, and investigated the response of the sensor to taste substances. Dilution of lipid improved the detection limit of the sensor to adsorptive taste substances, whereas the detection limit to non-adsorptive taste substances did not remarkably changed.

This paper describes the fabrication and evaluation of new sensor chip technology based on application of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer generation 4 (G4) for enhancing surface loading capacity and efficiency for selective and sensitive detection of explosive molecule trinitrotoluene (TNT) under competitive inhibition assay format. The fabrication process of a nano-scale biosensor chip surface was optimized at various steps involving thiol layer, cross-linker, dinitro phenylated-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (DNP-KLH) protein conjugate as ligand. The top ligand layer is supported by underlying 11-amino 1-undecanethiol hydrochloride (AUT) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) and PAMAM dendrimer G4. Bis-sulfosuccinimidyl suberate (BS 3 ) was used as homobifunctional crosslinker to react with amine groups at both the ends. PAMAM dendrimer activation was achieved over 11-amino 1-undecanethiol SAMs over gold chip. PAMAM sensor surfaces scored many advantages over the planer surfaces such as enhanced antibody immobilization, allowing the use of lower concentrated antibody to work under the regime of lower detection limit besides stable and robust surface leading to longer life. Bioactive thin films were fabricated over gold chip via layer-by-layer self-assembly methods. Biomolecular interaction between DNP-KLH conjugate surface and specific TNP-gly-KLH mouse IgG antibody was monitored through surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based real-time optical transducer. The quantitation of TNT on this bioactive surface was done using the competitive inhibition immunoassay. The DNP-KLH surface biosensor has shown a detection limit of 110 ppt for TNT molecule. This TNT specific biosensor holds the promise to be most sensitive, easy to regenerate, highly stable, low response loss sensor surface under competitive assay format. A 12 s injection of 10 mM glycine–HCl solution or 50 mM NaOH solution was found adequate for regeneration of DNP-KLH surface for repeated use. DNP-KLH sensor platform was checked for its repeatability and storability.

In order to develop the fully integrated portable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) system for detection of explosives, the amplification strategy of SPR signal was investigated. Indirect competitive inhibition method allowed the middle-sized SPR sensor to detect trinitrotoluene (TNT) at ppt level. However, this enhanced SPR signal was not high enough to detect TNT at ppt level by a miniaturized SPR sensor. Therefore, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect using Au nanoparticle as further signal amplification approach was used. The amplification method of indirect competitive inhibition and LSPR were combined together for fabrication of the immunosurface using Au nanoparticle. TNT detectable range of this immunosurface was from 10 ppt (10 pg/ml) to 100 ppb (100 ng/ml), which was almost comparable to that without Au nanoparticle. The observed resonance angle change due to binding monoclonal TNT antibody (M-TNT Ab) with the immunosurface modified with Au nanoparticle was amplified to four times higher than that in absence of Au nanoparticle.

It was attempted to detect a smoldering fire which was mainly caused by a cigarette in a general house. Same types of eight sensors are adopted in this experiment to detect the fire. The sensor is a type of a tin oxide gas sensor which is used to detect various kinds of reducing gases. It is on a market as a gas detector. The sensor is mounted at a supporting bar and its height can be changed. The height was set at 50, 100 and 150 cm in the experiment. The lit cigarette was put on a cotton cloth and the generated gases were detected. The cloth was adopted as a subjective material for the fire. The sensor output near the fire source fluctuates largely. It was attempted to identify the position and burning material of the fire. The moving average characteristics of the sensor outputs were derived and the differential characteristic of the sensor output was also derived. The characteristics are effective to identify the fire position. The scattering diagram for two sensor outputs near the fire source was introduced and the slope of the characteristic was derived. The slope is effective to distinguish the material of fire source. As for the result, it can be distinguished the fire position within about 30 s and fire material roughly. Tin oxide gas sensor is good for detecting the smoldering fire.

A biological olfaction system is one of the highest performance chemical sensing systems for low-molecular-weight compounds. An ability of recognizing a various molecular properties based on their structures is essential for a biological odor recognition process. For the development of a sensor mimicking the olfactory system, we have formed benzene-patterned self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on the sensor surface using SAMs with nanostructure that serves as adsorption sites for benzene ring, which is representative substructure of aromatics. The structure of the benzene-patterned SAM surface was analyzed by contact-angle measurement, ellipsometry, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Moreover, the electrodes evaluated as sensor surfaces with cyclic surface-polarization impedance (cSPI) sensor that measures changes in impedance of the electrode surface by adsorption of substances. The results of cSPI indicated the benzene-patterned SAM surface could distinguish benzene by recognizing of the hydrophobicity and the molecular size.

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.

This paper describes the development and comparison of two immunoassays for the detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) based on competitive inhibition. Two polyclonal antibodies were used in the immunoassay; one was prepared from 2,4,6-trinitrophenol–bovine serum albumin conjugate (anti-TNP-BSA Ab, goat IgG) and another from 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl–keyhole limpet hemocyanine conjugate (anti-TNPh-KLH Ab, rabbit IgG). A solid-phase immunoassay that consisted of physically immobilized TNP-BSA conjugate was allowed to interact with these antibodies and the resonance angle changes due to the biomolecular interactions were monitored by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The quantification of TNT was based on the change in the resonance angle shift for binding of antibodies with a TNP-BSA conjugate, which occurred in the presence of TNT in solution. Both antibodies showed a high degree of affinity for TNT and varying degrees of cross-reactivity to the related nitroaromatic derivative compounds, such as 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT), 1,3-dinitrobenzene (DNB), 2-amino-4,6-dintitrotoluene (2A-4,6-DNT), 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene (4A-2,6-DNT) and TNP. The anti-TNPh-KLH Ab prepared in our laboratory showed a detection limit of 0.006 ng/ml (6 ppt), which was comparable to or even better than the detection limit (0.095 ng/ml or 95 ppt) of a commercially available anti-TNP-BSA Ab for detection of TNT. A pepsin solution prepared with a glycine–HCl buffer (pH 2.0) was used for regeneration of the sensor surface. The duration for a single immunocycle was ∼19 and ∼13 min for anti-TNP-BSA Ab and anti-TNPh-KLH Ab immunosystems, respectively. The proposed immunoassay is simple and possesses good analytical characteristics for quantification of TNT.

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.

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunosensor for the determination of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) has been developed based on the principle of indirect competitive immunoreaction. 2,4,6-trinitrophenol-bovine serum albumin (TNP-BSA) conjugate was immobilized onto a SPR gold chip by means of simple physical adsorption. Binding of anti-TNP antibody with TNP-BSA conjugate was detected based on an increase in resonance angle due to antigen-antibody interaction. Preincubation of anti-TNP antibody with TNT suppresses its interaction with immobilized TNP-BSA conjugate, which leads to a decrease in resonance angle shift. Following the dependence of the resonance angle shift, concentration of TNT was detected. Pepsin solution was used for the regeneration of the sensing surface. The response time for TNT measurement is about 22 min. The immunosensor showed excellent sensitivity to TNT in a wide concentration range from 60 ppt to 1000 ppb with good selectivity, stability, and reproducibility. The proposed system is promising for future application for the on-site detection of landmines.

The global demands for landmine abolition become stronger, whereas the development of landmine detection technology progresses slowly. At present, the detection activities are mainly performed by means of a metal detector or a well-trained dog that needs much time and cost. Therefore, a more efficient landmine detection technique is desired. Most landmines contain aromatic nitro compounds, such as 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) as explosive charges; therefore, these substances are clues for landmines. In this study, we tried to detect amount of aromatic nitro compounds high-sensitively using a surface-polarization controlling method that measures electrochemical impedance of an electrode surface where explosive compounds adsorbed. As a result, we could detect the aromatic nitro compounds at detection limits of sub-μM level and distinguish the aromatic nitro compounds from other aromatic compounds at 100 μM at least. Furthermore, in order to improve specificity and sensitivity to aromatic nitro compounds, the electrode surface was modified with arenes that makes charge-transfer complex with aromatic nitro compounds. We adopted anthracene as the arene to functionalize the electrode surface. The modified electrode makes it possible to detect the aromatic nitro compounds selectively. This method enables us to develop a sensor for landmine detection.

This paper reports a new measurement method to detect ppb levels of noncharged organic substances using lipid/polymer membrane sensors. Noncharged organic substances have large influences on the adsorption of positively-charged lipids to negatively-charged membranes. Organic solvents (trichloroethylene) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (di-2-ethylhexylphthalate) were detected by utilizing the sensor output, which is the change of membrane potential caused by interactions among the lipid membrane, noncharged organic substances, and lipids in solution. This new potentiometric method has a possibility of detection of a trace amount of noncharged toxic substances.

A novel odor sensing system which imitates the process of reception of odorants in biological olfactory system had been developed, utilizing surface polarity controlling method as a transducer of the sensor. In biological system, odorants are received by a large number of receptors, which recognize not whole structures but partial structures of molecules. The present sensor responded partial structures of odorants and adsorption interaction of the partial structures were controlled by the surface polarity of the electrode. Sensor output signals were analyzed on the stand point of partial structures of odorants. As a result, the responses to alcohols, aromatic compounds and aromatic alcohols as odorants could be discriminated by similar molecular structures, with principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, regression models of the response to partial structures of odorants were developed by multiple regression analysis, and odor qualities of aromatic alcohols could be evaluated quantitatively by partial structures of odor molecules.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) induces a favorable taste, termed umami. The action of MSG on lipid membranes of a taste sensor was investigated. In general, food constituents monotonously increase the electric potential of the negatively charged membranes. Contrary to this, MSG decreases the potential at lower concentration and increases it at higher concentration, thus the effect of MSG on lipid membrane is biphasic. On the decrease of the membrane potential, a model was proposed in which the dissociated carboxyl group of MSG accelerates the dissociation of phosphate group of the membrane lipid.

Taste qualities were studied using a method for detecting the change in interactions between an electrode surface and taste substances in aqueous solution. The present method to detect chemicals was categorized into impedance spectroscopy in electrochemistry. Taste substances affect the electrochemical impedance by adsorption to the electrode surface. Dependences of the impedance on the electrode potential showed different patterns for five basic taste substances with different taste qualities. Furthermore, the response profiles obtained for capsaicin, piperine and allyl isothiocyanate, which are natural pungent-taste substances and have strong hydrophobic groups, were discriminated from those for bitter taste substances using a new method detecting the change of electrode impedance by addition of the mediators of chemical interactions to the taste substances. Hydrophobic substances, which were difficult to discriminate using the electrochemical method, could be discriminated by a proposed method; hence, it was possible to detect wide range of chemical substances from hydrophilic electrolytes to various hydrophobic non-electrolytes.

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 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.

We studied and discussed the characteristics and the application of a multichannel electrode type sensor. It was based on eight membranes using various lipids as an effective and a simple potentiometric sensor for detecting water quality. The response of the sensor was calibrated using a standard solution, adjusted as an artificial river water. Especially, we researched the response patterns of the sensor to the river water at Kitakyushu in Japan. In general, cations increase the membrane potential of negatively charged membranes, while anions decrease that of positively charged membranes. The water quality of the upper stream was clearly distinguished from the water quality of the other sites. The original data obtained with the sensor were expressed on an eight-dimensional space, so they were visualized on the two-dimensional plane using principal component analysis. That is, the water quality of the upper stream was the same, and the quality of middle and down stream was different. The multichannel sensor system will contribute to control water quality and water pollution.

A multichannel taste sensor, namely an electronic tongue, with global selectivity is composed of several kinds of lipid/polymer membranes for transforming information about substances producing taste into electrical signals, which are input to a computer. The sensor output exhibits different patterns for chemical substances which have different taste qualities such as saltiness, sourness and bitterness, whereas it exhibits similar patterns for chemical substances with similar tastes. The sensor responds to the taste itself, as can be understood from the fact that taste interactions such as the suppression effect, which appears for mixtures of sweet and bitter substances, can be reproduced well. The suppression of the bitterness of quinine and a drug substance by sucrose can be quantified. Amino acids can be classified into several groups according to their own tastes on the basis of sensor outputs. The tastes of foodstuffs such as beer, coffee, mineral water, milk, sake, rice, soybean paste and vegetables can be discussed quantitatively using the taste sensor, which provides the objective scale for the human sensory expression. The flavour of a wine is also discriminated using the taste-odour sensory fusion conducted by combining the taste sensor and an odour-sensor array using conducting polymer elements. The taste sensor can also be applied to measurements of water pollution. Miniaturization of the taste sensor using FET produces the same characteristics as those of the above taste sensor by measuring the gate-source voltage. Use of the taste sensor will lead to a new era of food and environmental sciences.