Fast probing of glucose and fructose in plant tissues via plasmonic affinity sandwich assay with molecularly-imprinted extraction microprobes

Highlights: • A new approach called plasmonic affinity sandwich assay was developed for fast probing glucose and fructose in plant tissues. • Molecularly-imprinted needles were prepared as microprobes to specifically extract glucose and fructose in plant tissues. • Plasmon enhanced Raman scattering was used to provide high-sensitivity detection. • Spatial distributions of glucose and fructose in apple fruit were investigated by the approach. - Abstract: Determination of specific target compounds in agriculture food and natural plant products is essential for many purposes; however, it is often challenging due to the complexity of the sample matrices. Herein we present a new approach called plasmonic affinity sandwich assay for the facile and rapid probing of glucose and fructose in plant tissues. The approach mainly relies on molecularly imprinted plasmonic extraction microprobes, which were prepared on gold-coated acupuncture needles via boronate affinity controllable oriented surface imprinting with the target monosaccharide as the template molecules. An extraction microprobe was inserted into plant tissues under investigation, which allowed for the specific extraction of glucose or fructose from the tissues. The glucose or fructose molecules extracted on the microprobe were labeled with boronic acid-functionalized Raman-active silver nanoparticles, and thus affinity sandwich complexes were formed on the microprobes. After excess Raman nanotags were washed away, the microprobe was subjected to Raman detection. Upon being irradiated with a laser beam, surface plasmon on the gold-coated microprobes was generated, which further produced plasmon-enhanced Raman scattering of the silver-based nanotags and thereby provided sensitive detection. Apple fruits, which contain abundant glucose and fructose, were used as a model of plant tissues. The approach exhibited high specificity, good sensitivity (limit of detection, 1 μg mL⁻¹), and fast speed (the whole procedure required only 20 min). The spatial distribution profiles of glucose and fructose within an apple were investigated by the developed approach.