Asian Scientist (Jul. 24 2013) – Researchers in Singapore and Korea have teamed up to develop a fluorescent caffeine sensor that lights up like a traffic light when caffeine is present at various concentrations.
The novel caffeine sensor, named Caffeine Orange, can be used for quick and easy visualization of the amount of caffeine present in various beverages and solutions.
Beverages containing caffeine, including coffee, tea, soft drinks, and energy drinks, are extremely popular around the world. Although various studies have looked at the health effects of caffeine, there is no general agreement on whether moderate amounts of caffeine is beneficial or detrimental to health.
However, caffeine overdose can lead to caffeine intoxication, with symptoms such as anxiety, irregular heartbeat, and insomnia. In extreme cases, a large overdose can lead to hallucinations, depression, or even death.
Since caffeine is so widely consumed, it is also abundantly present in sewage and other domestic waste water, making it an important indicator of natural water pollution.
Now, in a paper published in Scientific Reports, the researchers have demonstrated that Caffeine Orange is an effective tool for visualizing caffeine concentration in various liquids.
They showed that Caffeine Orange exhibited a 250-fold increase in fluorescence upon activation by caffeine. It specifically detects caffeine and does not respond to caffeine analogs that have similar chemical structures.
Using Caffeine Orange as the detection agent, the researchers developed a caffeine detection kit that indicates the amount of caffeine present in a solution through a “traffic light” color scheme: when irradiated with a green laser pointer, solutions with high caffeine concentrations turned red while solutions with moderate and low caffeine concentrations turned yellow and green, respectively.
The researchers have also implemented the system in a microfluidic device, allowing quick, sensitive and automated caffeine detection.
The article can be found at: Xu et al. (2013) Make Caffeine Visible: A Fluorescent Caffeine “Traffic Light” Detector.
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