Citation: Zhongyong Xu, Jun Peng, Wenxing Zhang, Lei Wang, Xiongzhi Xiang, Bin Liu. Albumin-based fluorescent sensor array for differentiating of tetracyclines through host-guest recognitions[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(6): 111525. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111525 shu

Albumin-based fluorescent sensor array for differentiating of tetracyclines through host-guest recognitions

Zhongyong Xu ^a ,
Jun Peng ^a ,
Wenxing Zhang ^{b, *,} ,
Lei Wang ^a ,
Xiongzhi Xiang ^{a, *,} ,
Bin Liu ^{a, *,}

a.
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, College of Material Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
b.
Advanced Materials and Devices Laboratory, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou 521041, China

wenxingzhang@hstc.edu.cn

xiyun_cn@szu.edu.cn

bliu@szu.edu.cn

Received Date: 24 March 2025
Revised Date: 18 June 2025
Accepted Date: 29 June 2025
Available Online: 30 June 2025

Figures(5)

The overuse and improper disposal of tetracyclines raise significant environmental and public health concerns due to their persistent ecotoxicological effects. However, there is still a lack of simple, readily available, and effective method for simultaneously detecting multiple tetracyclines. Herein, we present a simple fluorescent sensor array for the detection and identification of multiple tetracyclines (including tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, and doxycycline) based on host-guest recognitions between albumin (host) and tetracycline (guest). Upon entering the hydrophobic cavity of albumin, tetracycline exhibits a significant enhancement in its intrinsic fluorescence. The differential binding affinity of two albumins to four tetracyclines resulted in different fluorescent responses, creating distinct fluorescence patterns for each tetracycline. With the assistance of machine learning technique, including linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), this sensor array demonstrated the significant discrimination and classification capabilities for four common tetracyclines and their mixtures with 100% accuracy. Additionally, the array has been successfully applied to differentiate tetracyclines in real food samples. The spiked antibiotics in water sample were determined with a satisfactory recovery of 96.33%–106.5%. This work offers a simple but promising method for differentiating tetracycline antibiotics and presents a versatile strategy for sensor array design.
- Tetracyclines,
- Fluorescent sensor array,
- Albumin,
- Host-guest,
- Food samples
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