Flavonoid glycosides are formed by dehydration condensation of aglycones and sugar molecules. Therefore, discrimination of flavonoid glycosides from their corresponding aglycones is a challenging task because they contain the same aglycone part in their molecular structures. Herein, boric acid-functional Eu(III)-organic framework (BA-Eu-MOF) was applied to discriminate flavonoid glycosides including baicalin (Bai), wogonoside (Wog), rutin (Rut), puerarin (Pue), quercitrin (Que) and astragalin (Ast) from their corresponding aglycones for the first time. Besides as organic ligand to sensitize the luminescence of Eu 3+ through “antenna” effect, 5-boronobenzene-1,3 dicarboxylic acid provided recognition site for flavonoid glycosides. Infrared, fluorescence, UV–vis, and mass spectra were used to investigate the recognition reaction between BA-Eu-MOF and flavonoid glycosides. The data indicated that the cis -diols of flavonoid glycosides from sugars covalently bonded to boric acid group to form cyclic boronic esters, which quenched the fluorescence of BA-Eu-MOF at 620 nm through decreasing the intersystem efficiency, inner filter effect and photoelectron transfer. In contrast, aglycones could not alter the fluorescence of BA-Eu-MOF because of no covalent bond between them. This probe exhibited high sensitivity towards flavonoid glycosides with the low detection limits of 3.3 nM, 3.5 nM, 33 nM, 56 nM, 5.1 nM and 5.5 nM for Bai, Que, Wog, Ast, Pue and Rut, respectively. The unique recognition ability of boric acid group enables selective and sensitive detection of flavonoid glycosides without the interference of their corresponding aglycones.
By the employment of a homogeneous biorecognition reaction to induce the assembled formation of DNA nanostructures at an electrode, herein we develop a novel biosensing method for the ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of kanamycin (Kana) antibiotic. A DNA complex consisting of Kana-aptamer and a hairpin DNA with an exposed 3′-end was first designed for conducting the homogeneous reaction with Kana in the presence of exonuclease I (Exo I). It resulted in the production of a hairpin DNA with a blunt terminus, which could be used for triggering the assembled formation of a layer of DNA nanostructures with orderly distribution and abundant biotin sites at a gold electrode. Then, high-content methylene blue and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-functionalized gold nanotags would be captured onto the electrode to realize the electrocatalytic signal transduction . Due to the Exo I and HRP-assisted dual signal amplification, a very low detection limit of 9.1 fg mL −1 was obtained for the Kana assay along with a very wide linear range over five-order of magnitude. Considering the excellent performance of the method, it exhibits a promising prospect for practical applications.