Ultrabright aggregation-induced materials for the highly sensitive detection of Ag+ and T-2 toxin

Heavy metals and mycotoxins are important contaminants in food pollution. Sensitive, reliable, and rapid detection of heavy metals and mycotoxins is crucial for human health. In this work, imidazole-functionalized aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecule tetra-(4-pyridylphenyl) ethylene (TPPE) was used as a precise and specific probe for Ag + detection, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.0318 μM. Meanwhile, a large amount of hydrophobic TPPE molecules were loaded into the amphiphilic block copolymer F127 to form ultrabright fluorescent microspheres (TPPENPs). Lateral flow immunochromatography (LFIA) based on immunoprobe (TPPENPs-Ab) has been successfully developed. The LOD of TPPENPs-LFIA for T-2 toxin was 0.13 μg/L, which was 13.31-fold and 8.62-fold more sensitive than that of gold nanoparticles-based LFIA and ordinary fluorescent microspheres-based LFIA, respectively. TPPENPs-LFIA was employed to detect T-2 toxin in actual grain samples, with a spiked recovery rate of 71.69 - 111.13 %. This assay offers a promising strategy and new idea for multi-target detection.