Detection of microbial contamination based on uracil-selective synthetic receptors.

The here presented work is focused on the development of a method for detection of microbial contamination of food based on uracil-selective synthetic receptors. Because uracil may serve as an indicator of bacterial contamination, its selective and on-site detection may prevent spreading of foodborne diseases. The synthetic receptors were created by molecular imprinting. Molecularly imprinted polymers for selective uracil isolation were prepared by a non-covalent imprinting method using dopamine as a functional monomer. Detection of isolated uracil was performed by capillary electrophoresis with absorption detection (λ - 260 nm). The conditions of preparation of molecularly imprinted polymers, their binding properties, adsorption kinetics and selectivity were investigated in detail. Furthermore, the prepared polymer materials were used for selective isolation and detection of uracil from complex samples as tomato products by miniaturized electrophoretic system suggesting the potential of in situ analysis of real samples.