Microporous Luminescent Metal–Organic Framework for a Sensitive and Selective Fluorescence Sensing of Toxic Mycotoxin in Moldy Sugarcane

Food
contamination by toxic mycotoxins not only causes a considerable loss
in economy, but importantly poses a huge threat to human health through
accidental ingestion. Hence, it is an ongoing and imperative need
to develop a convenient, cost-effective method for the detection of
the mycotoxin-infected agricultural commodities. To this end, we herein
fabricated a novel metal–organic framework-derived composite
material that displays a strong solid-state emission in the visible
region, by attaching a frequently used fluorescent label, fluorescein
isothiocyanate (FITC), via guest adsorption. Significantly, owing
to the inherent pH-responsive conformational changes of FITC, the
resulting composite material provides, to the best of our knowledge,
the first example of the sensitive and selective fluorescence sensing
toward 3-nitropropionic acid, which, as a major naturally occurring
mycotoxin in moldy sugarcane, has been closely linked to poisoning
episodes in human beings and animals.