MSU scientists have created material that quickly determines the content of harmful ions in food

Scientists of the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, on the basis of silicon-titanium gel and dye, they created a new material that is able to quickly and in field conditions determine the content of dangerous oxalate ions in food. The uniqueness of the new material lies in the fact that in order to carry out analysis with its help, additional manipulations with the object are not required – it is enough just to touch the sample with the material. The research results are published in the journal Sensors.

Oxalates are salts of oxalic acid. Many of them are poorly soluble in water and stand out from solutions in the form of crystals. With a high content of oxalates in food, there is a risk of developing kidney stones. Scientists from Moscow State University have developed a material with high sensitivity: it determines the amount of hazardous ions, even if their concentration is four times less than the maximum allowable.

The new sensory material is a modified silicon-titanium gel from which all liquid phase has been removed. It is a purple powder of about 100 micrometers in size. The structure of this gel includes the indicator eriochrome cyanine, which loses its color after contact with a substance containing oxalate ions. This is due to the fact that titanium contained in the matrix of the sensor material can form stable uncolored complexes with oxalate ions, which leads to the destruction of colored complexes with eriochrome cyanine and discoloration of the material. The color intensity of the sensor material, which is an indicator of the concentration of the ions under study, was measured by the scientists using a Lambda 35 spectrophotometer.

Scientists managed to obtain such a sensory material using the sol-gel technology. It involves first obtaining a solution with insoluble solid particles ranging in size from 1 to 100 nanometers, and then removing the entire liquid phase from the volume of the system. After removing the liquid, the molecules of the solids begin to bond with each other, resulting in a three-dimensional molecular matrix. After the completion of the synthesis process, the researchers introduced the indicator eriochrome cyanine into the formed matrix.

Source: www.gazeta.ru