Rapid sensing of melamine in milk by interference green synthesis of silver nanoparticles

- Rapid detection of milk adulterant melamine based on interference green synthesis.
- Green chemical ascorbic acid used as the reducing agent for interference sensing.
- Enabling in-situ sensing of melamine from milk with a limit of detection of 0.1 ppm.
- Presence of analyte inhibits the nanoparticle formation.

A highly sensitive, selective, and rapid interference green synthesis based determination of potential milk adulterant melamine has been reported here. Melamine is a nitrogenous compound added to milk for mimicking proteins, consumption of which leads to kidney stones and renal failures. Melamine interacts with ascorbic acid (AA) through strong hydrogen-bonding interactions, thus resulting in an interference/interruption in the formation of silver (Ag) nanoparticles which was confirmed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The corresponding benchmark validations for melamine spiked milk samples were performed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). This interference in the formation of Ag nanoparticles resulted in color change that varies with concentration of melamine, thereby enabling in-situ rapid sensing of melamine from milk to a lower limit of 0.1 ppm with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.9908.

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