Detection of Soluble Organic and Inorganic Compounds with an Array of Pure and Blended Optical Reporters

The issue of detecting harmful compounds in water may be approached in different ways, ranging from analytical methods to chemical sensor arrays. Optochemical sensors offer the advantage of being a simple and effective method for online monitoring of the parameters of interest in water solution. The core of an optochemical sensor is represented by a dye that changes colour upon the interaction with analytes. In this work, we used porphyrins, pH indicators and their mixtures to prepare the colorimetric sensor array for the analysis of ionic salts and organic compounds in water. The colour changes of sensing dyes exposed to an aqueous solution containing target compounds were read out with a system consisting of a computer screen (light source) and a digital camera (detector). Beyond the detection of metallic salts, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, and organic compounds, we found that the array can recognize creatinine and urea, two markers of kidney functionalities.