Introduction: Environmental monitoring calls for high-sensitivity detection technology

With the increasingly strict environmental regulations and the increasing public attention to water quality and safety, rapid and accurate detection of sewage and heavy metal pollution has become a core requirement in the field of environmental monitoring. Traditional detection methods such as atomic absorption spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry have high accuracy, but they are expensive, complex to operate, and difficult to apply on site. In this context, detection technology based on chemiluminescence principle is gradually gaining attention due to its advantages such as high sensitivity and fast response. In this type of technology, acridine esters, as a highly efficient chemiluminescence reagent, are playing a key role.

Acridine esters powder

Basic characteristics and luminescence mechanism of acridine ester

Acridine esters are a class of organic compounds with an acridine ring structure. Their molecules undergo oxidation reactions under alkaline hydrogen peroxide conditions, releasing excited N-methylacridone, which then emits blue light with a wavelength of approximately 430 nm through radiative transitions. This process does not require external light source excitation and belongs to typical "chemiluminescence". It has the advantages of low background interference, high signal-to-noise ratio, and low detection limit.

More importantly, acridine esters have high luminescence efficiency, rapid reaction (usually completed within seconds), and can be chemically modified to regulate their water solubility, stability, and reaction activity, making them suitable for the construction of different detection systems.

Application of Acridine Esters in Wastewater Detection

In sewage detection, acridine esters are often used as chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) or nucleic acid probe markers. For example, researchers can covalently link acridine esters to specific antibodies or DNA probes for common pathogenic microorganisms (such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella) or organic pollutants (such as antibiotics and endocrine disruptors) in wastewater. When the target substance is present, the label binds to it to form a complex. After washing, alkaline hydrogen peroxide is added to trigger luminescence, and the intensity of the light signal is positively correlated with the concentration of the target substance.

This method not only has a much higher sensitivity than conventional colorimetric methods, but also enables multi index joint inspection, making it suitable for wastewater treatment plant inflow and outflow, surface water, and emergency monitoring scenarios. Especially in sudden pollution incidents, portable detection devices based on acridine esters can complete on-site screening within 30 minutes, providing timely basis for decision-making.

Innovative application of acridine ester in heavy metal detection

Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic are key targets of wastewater regulation due to their high toxicity and difficulty in degradation. Due to the non luminescence of heavy metal ions themselves, detection needs to be achieved through a "signal conversion" strategy. Acridine esters are often used as reporter molecules in such systems to participate in the construction of functional sensing platforms. This type of method avoids complex pretreatment and has a detection limit of up to ppb or even ppt level, meeting the monitoring requirements for trace heavy metals in the Comprehensive Wastewater Discharge Standard.

Product packaging

Hubei Xindesheng Material Technology Co., Ltd. focuses on the research and production of high-performance chemiluminescence reagents, and can provide various structures of acridine ester products (including products with and without NHS groups), with a purity of ≥ 98%, suitable for environmental testing, in vitro diagnostics, and scientific research fields. If you are looking for a stable and reliable supplier, please feel free to contact Hubei Xindesheng. We will provide you with stable and reliable acridine ester raw materials and technical support.