Portable Smartphone Platform Based on a Single Dual-Emissive Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe for Visual Detection of Isopropanol in Exhaled Breath

The components in the exhaled breath have been confirmed to be related to certain diseases, especially studies have shown that isopropanol (IPA) might be closely associated with illnesses such as lung cancer, and are considered as a biomarker. Herein, we designed a portable smartphone platform based on a chemically synthesized ratiometric fluorescent probe for real-time/on-site, sensitive, and quantitative visual detection of IPA in exhaled breath. The fluorescent probe was fabricated by a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) functional modified onto fluorescent internal standard red carbon dots (RCDs). Whereas, IPA can convert NAD+ into reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) through an enzymatic reaction of secondary alcohol dehydrogenase (S-ADH). The electron transfer from IPA to NAD+ emitted a blue emission of NADH, which displayed consecutive color changes from red to light blue. Under optimum conditions, the fluorescent probe shows sensitive responses to IPA with a detection limit as low as 4.45 nM. Moreover, combined with the smartphone color recognizer application (APP), the ratio of fluorescence intensity response was recorded on a blue channel (B)/red channel (R), which has been employed for the visual quantitative determination of IPA with a detection limit of 8.34 nM and a recovery rate of 90.65–110.09% (RSD ≤ 4.83). The method reported here provides a convenient pathway for real-time/on-site and visual detection of IPA in exhaled air and is expected to extend the application of investigation of potential volatile biomarkers for preliminary monitoring and clinical diagnosis.