Moscow. October 21. INTERFAX.RU – Scientists of the Ural Federal University (Ural Federal District), together with specialists from the Institute of Organic Synthesis of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have created an express method for detecting a dangerous toxin in food, the press service of the university reports. The research is published in the scientific journal Food Chemistry.
As noted in the message, the development “is distinguished by unprecedented accuracy of analysis.”
We are talking about the detection of nitrobenzene, a dangerous toxin that can contaminate honey and other popular foods.
Nitrobenzene is “an extremely dangerous compound with a strong carcinogenic and mutagenic effect”, which is difficult to neutralize chemically. The most widespread use of nitrobenzene is in the chemical industry as a solvent, but food can also be contaminated with the toxin. Honey is especially susceptible to this, because insecticides are used to protect hives and bees from ticks.
Of practical interest is the development of portable devices for the determination of nitrobenzene, since most of the methods for determining the level of the substance content in products require lengthy laboratory work.
“The sensitivity and accuracy of such analyzers is determined by the structure of the“ recognizer ”- the so-called receptor layer,” explains Alisa Kozitsina, director of the Innovation Center for Chemical and Pharmaceutical Technologies of the UrFU.
For example, university specialists have developed a synthetic receptor and created a prototype of a portable analyzer based on it.
“Electrochemical sensors are miniature, easy to manufacture and require an ultra-small amount of the analyzed product. Associate Professor of the Ural Federal University Tatyana Svalova notes that” the recognition system and the prototype of the electrochemical sensor have no direct analogs in the world. “
Using the new method, the specialists discovered unsafe amounts of nitrobenzene in the honey samples, which were missed during the analysis of the accepted methods.
“The development will be in demand not only in environmental monitoring and quality control of food products, but also in industry, for example, in the production of cosmetics,” the message says.
