Frontiers Media, Frontiers in Chemistry, (9), 2021
DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2021.685783
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Herein, a self-assembled colorimetric chemosensor array composed of off-the-shelf catechol dyes and a metal ion (i.e., Zn2+) has been used for the sulfur-containing amino acids (SCAAs; i.e., glutathione, glutathione disulfide,L–cysteine,DL–homocysteine, andL–cystine). The coordination binding–based chemosensor array (CBSA) fabricated by a competitive assay among SCAAs, Zn2+ions, and catechol dyes [i.e., pyrocatechol violet (PV), bromopyrogallol red (BPR), pyrogallol red (PR), and alizarin red S (ARS)] yielded fingerprint-like colorimetric changes. We succeeded in the qualification of SCAAs based on pattern recognition [i.e., a linear discrimination analysis (LDA)] with 100% correct classification accuracy. The semiquantification of reduced/oxidized forms of SCAAs was also performed based on LDA. Furthermore, we carried out a spike test of glutathione in food samples using the proposed chemosensor array with regression analysis. It is worth mentioning that we achieved a 91–110% recovery rate in real sample tests, which confirmed the accuracy of the constructed model. Thus, this study represents a step forward in assessing food freshness based on supramolecular analytical methods.