Throughout the United States, there are 6.1 million lead water service lines. This poses a danger to many Americans since changes in water, such as pH, can cause lead (Pb2+) to leech into their water supply. Long term exposure to lead can result in organ damage and cancer. Lead poisoning is especially threatening to children, due to possible developmental impairments. Current methods to detect heavy metals require sending samples to a highly trained user, whereas the proposed method provides a simple and inexpensive way to test for such metals from a person’s own home. This will be made possible by incorporating metal sensitive dye-modified polymer nanoparticles into a lateral flow assay. In this work, a phenanthroline based probe for Pb2+ was synthesized from 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione and 4-nitrobenzhydrazide with a yield of 37%. The probe’s affinity for Pb2+ was evaluated in a variety of solvent systems and with several lead salts. It was found that with the use of lead acetate in a 9:1(v:v) solution of acetonitrile/water a visible color change from yellow to orange was observed. This probe response was evaluated by both UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Polymer-based nanoparticles were then synthesized to encapsulate the probe. The nanoparticles were characterized by dynamic light scattering to determine their size and stability. The response of the nanoparticles to Pb2+ was also verified. In the future, these nanoparticles will be incorporated into the lateral flow assay by way of a biotin-streptavidin linkage for the colorimetric determination of Pb2+ in drinking water.

Detection of Pb2+ by colorimetric nanoparticles

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.