A novel Zn-MOF fluorescent probe for highly sensitive and rapid detection of gossypol in cottonseed oil and fetal bovine serum

Gossypol is a poisonous substance in cottonseed which seriously harms the internal organs, blood vessels, nerves, and reproductive systems of organisms. Therefore, detecting gossypol is of great significance in the field of food safety. This manuscript constructs a novel target-oriented gossypol fluorescence probe based on the energy competition absorption mechanism. The probe is a zinc-based metal organic framework material (Zn-MOF) with blue fluorescence, which can achieve rapid and sensitive detection of gossypol through fluorescence “turn-off” effect. It has the advantages of low detection limit (16.6 nM), ultra-fast response time (8 s), and favorable selectivity. Interestingly, this probe can be reused and the fluorescence can still be recovered after five cycles when detecting gossypol. In addition, the application of the fluorescent probe in cottonseed oil and fetal bovine serum is reliable, with the recovery of 99.35%–101.5% and the relative standard deviation of less than 2.72%. These results indicate that the developed sensor has prominent application potential in the field of food and biological detection.