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The authors thank the University of Catania for the support. MP thanks Dr. Corrado Bacchiocchi at the University of Camerino for the technical support.

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Petroselli, ManuelAuthor

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May 26, 2024
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Smartphone-Based Sensing of Cortisol by Functionalized Rhodamine Probes

Publicated to:Chemistry-A European Journal. 30 (33): e202401201-- - 2024-05-16 30(33), DOI: 10.1002/chem.202401201

Authors: Santonocito, Rossella; Cavallaro, Alessia; Puglisi, Roberta; Pappalardo, Andrea; Tuccitto, Nunzio; Petroselli, Manuel; Trusso Sfrazzetto, Giuseppe

Affiliations

CSGI, Lab Mol Surfaces & Nanotechnol, Viale Andrea Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy - Author
Inst Chem Res Catalonia ICIQ, Ave Paisos Catalans 16, Tarragona 43007, Spain - Author
INSTM Udr Catania, Viale Andrea Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy - Author
Univ Catania, Dept Chem Sci, Viale Andrea Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy - Author

Abstract

During a stress condition, the human body synthesizes catecholamine neurotransmitters and specific hormones (called "stress hormones"), the most important of which is cortisol. The monitoring of cortisol levels should be extremely important to control the stress levels, and for this reason, it shows important medical applications. The common analytical methods (HPLC, GC-MS) cannot be used in real life, due to the bulky size of the instruments and the necessity of specialized personnel. Molecular probes solve these problems due to their fast and easy use. The synthesis of new fluorescent rhodamine probes, able to interact by non-covalent interactions with cortisol, the recognition properties in solution as well as in solid state by Strip Test, using a smartphone as detector, are here reported. DFT calculations and FT-IR measurements suggest the formation of supramolecular complexes through hydrogen bonds as main non-covalent interaction. The present study represents one of the first sensor, based on synthetical chemical receptors, able to detect cortisol in a linear range from 1 mM to 1 pM, based on non-covalent molecular recognition and paves the way to the realization of practical point-of-care device for the monitoring of cortisol in real live. Cortisol detection by optical Strip Test, based on fluorescent rhodamine probes properly functionalized to interact by non-covalent interactions with cortisol, is here described. Furthermore, we used a smartphone as detector, obtaining a prototype for the monitoring cortisol levels in real life. image

Keywords

CortisolPlatformRhodamineSimulantSmartphoneStresStrip tesSupramolecular sensing

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Chemistry-A European Journal due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2024 there are still no calculated indicators, but in 2023, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Organic Chemistry.

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-16:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 6.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 7 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.75.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Italy.