ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Construction of cerium-containing organophyllosilicate nanozyme for colorimetric determination of nitrite in food

Rui Lv, Fengyan Xi, Ning Chen, Yanlei Wu, Jinfeng Fang, Yan Liu, Qin Zhu, Lin Hu, Jiahui Hu, Zhenyu Chen, and Xiaofei Tu

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Mianyang Teachers’ College, Mianyang, China

E-mail: renny8160@163.com

Received: 25 January 2025  Accepted: 5 May 2025

Abstract:

In this study, cerium-containing organophyllosilicate (CeAC) was constructed via one-step sol–gel method. The synthesized CeAC exhibited exceptional peroxide-like catalytic activity, facilitating the oxidation of colorless 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to the blue-colored TMB_ox in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Subsequently, CeAC-TMB-H₂O₂ colorimetric system was employed for the determination of nitrite (NO₂⁻) in food. A good linear relationship between A652/A445 and the logarithm of NO₂⁻concentration in the range of 10–200 μM was achieved, as well as an extremely low limit of detection at 0.365 μM. Moreover, the accuracy and precision determined in spiked samples through quantitative visualization is in the range of 92.4–118.4% with a coefficient of variation below 8.25%, representing a significant advantage over other reported systems. Finally, the CeAC catalytic system was applied to determine the nitrite in real food, it showed a similar but more accurate result compared to the commercial kit. Overall, this study presents a high-specificity, accurate, and precise online visual method for the determination of nitrite in food.

Keywords: Chemical Diagnostics; Food Engineering; Food Nanotechnology; Food Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; Non-photochemical quenching; Nanozyme; Peroxidase-like activity; Nitrite determination; Colorimetric detection

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-025-04121-5

Chemical Papers 79 (8) 5237–5247 (2025)