Volatolomics-based quality identification of Lycium barbarum using cMOF thin film chemiresistors

Abstract

The sulfur-fumigation process not only induces the chemical transformation of Lycium barbarum (Lb, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine) but also severely influences human health. Given the existing challenges like the complex and time-consuming operation, as well as the high technical demands of the current detection methods for sulfur-fumed Lycium barbarum (SF-Lb), this paper employs a simple chemiresistor to carry out discrimination research between Lb and SF-Lb which have significant differences in volatolomics. The sensor is constructed by a conductive metal-organic framework (cMOF) thin film, Cu₃(HHTP)₂, due to its abundant active sites, excellent electron transfer performance as well as the capacity to detect specific groups of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Consequently, the response values of Cu₃(HHTP)₂-based sensor to 0.5 g SF-Lb (151.74%) are significantly higher than those to normal Lb (80.07%), identifying SF-Lb simply and rapidly with an accuracy of ∼100%. Our work investigates volatolomics of SF-Lb and establishes a new rapid discrimination method for sulfur-fumed traditional Chinese herbs.