Synergistic effect of greenly synthesized nanoparticles embedded in molecular imprinted polymer for the detection of food preservative: Formalin

We report a neoteric study that accentuates the effectiveness of substrate-less molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) block acting as probe in detecting a carcinogenic food preservative, formalin (FOL). FOL is generally mixed with consumable products to increase their shelf-life. However, its ingestion has exposed human health to severe illnesses, comparable to chronic cancer. Present study demonstrates FOL detection through phenomenon of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) alongside MIP. The LSPR spectra arising from the attributes of embedded NP's are recorded to characterize the MIP probe. There exists a wide linear range (R² > 0.9) from 150 μM to 3 mM with 15.5 μM as limit of detection and 0.01395 nm/μM as the probe's sensitivity. The probe shows high imprinting factor (IF) of 6.25, and recovery percentage greater than 97 % in real sample analysis. Overall, this study presents an efficient method of monitoring food adulteration and offers features like real-time monitoring, low fabrication cost, and portability.