A Hydrogel-Based Sustained Release System for the Recyclable Uses of Formaldehyde Monitoring in Foods

Abstract

4-amino-3-hydramidin-5-mercapto-1, 2, 4-triazacene (AHMT) is pre-doped into agarose hydrogels, and consequently, sustained hydrogel systems with the modulated release performance are constructed, contributing to the point-of-care detections of formaldehyde (FA) with characteristics of simple operation and recyclable uses. With the increases of FA concentrations, the absorbance of those upper-layer solutions responses with linear relationships and the reaction colors gradually increase. The detection of limit is calculated to be 0.013 μg mL-1. In order to verify the practical application, a simple, rapid and low-cost FA detection platform is built on the basis of condition optimizations, and the method has merits of comparable simplicity, high sensitivity and selectivity. More importantly, the developed hydrogels route is recyclable and can be used at least five times without any loss of comparable sensing performance. Significantly, the sensory hydrogels can be employed by the non-skilled people for monitoring food safety of samples, and applied for the practical detection of FA in foods.