Antibodies Against Sulfur Mustard and Direct Piezoelectric Immunosensing in an Organic Solvent

The development of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against sulfur mustard (SM; yperite) and initial experiments towards the piezoelectric immunosensor are reported. The antibodies were produced using bovine serum albumin and thyroglobulin as carrier proteins, the hapten density was 9–11 SM molecules per one molecule of albumin. The obtained antibodies were able to bind to the piezoelectric quartz crystal sensors with immobilized SM; however, the interaction with free SM was very weak in a competitive assay format. For this reason, the sensors with immobilized antibodies were prepared and tested for affinity to SM using toluene as solvent. Specific binding of SM to polyclonal antibodies was observed in dry toluene, the monoclonal antibody 2C1.2 was able to bind SM in toluene saturated with water. The preliminary results seem promising for immunosensing of SM in organic solvents.