Recognition and Selectivity Analysis Monitoring of Multicomponent Steroid Estrogen Mixtures in Complex Systems Using a Group-Targeting Environmental Sensor

The same class of steroid estrogen mixtures, coexisting in the environment of 17β-estradiol, estrone (E1), and ethinyl estradiol (EE2), have strong ability to disrupt the human endocrine system and are seriously prejudicial to the health of the organism and environmental safety. Herein, a highly sensitive and group-targeting environmental monitoring sensor was fabricated for a comprehensive analysis of multicomponent steroid estrogens (multi-SEs) in complex systems. This breakthrough was based on the highly sensitive photoelectrochemical response composite material CdSe NPs-TiO2 nanotube and highly group-specific aptamers. The optimized procedure exhibited not only high sensitivity in a wide range of concentrations from 0.1 to 50 nM, indeed, the minimum detection limit was 33 pM, but also strong resistance to interference. The affinity and consistent action pockets of this sensor enable selective detection of multi-SEs in complex systems. It subsequently was applied for the analysis of multi-SEs from three real samples in the environment including medical wastewater, river water, and tap water to provide a means to clarify the fate of multi-SEs in the process of migration and transformation. This monitoring sensor has a brilliant application prospect for the identification and monitoring of the same class of endocrine-disrupting chemical mixtures in environmental complex systems.