The presented research results examined the interaction of model dyes and a model protein with paper as a substrate material (Chapter 2). The first aim was to improve the understanding of the retention of different analytes in paper. For this purpose, after a characterization of the starting materials paper (Chapter 4), dye and protein, the interaction of the materials in microfluidic systems was investigated.
The investigation of the dye retention (Chapter 5) revealed marked differences in the retention of the positively charged methylene blue and the predominantly negatively charged tartrazine in the negativelycharged microstructured substrate material paper. Tartrazine showed a very low retention at a high pH value and low conductivity in eucalyptus sulfate paper. In contrast, methylene blue retention was significantly more pronounced independently of these influencing parameters (Section 5.2.1, 5.2.2 and 5.3.2). Variation in paper density only has a very limited influence on the retention of the model dyes in the paper (Section 5.3.1). These results suggested that electrostatic interactions play a central role in the retention of colorants. A controlled variation of the retention of the dyes is consequently possible by adapting the fluid rather than the solid phase.
The study of protein retention (Chapter 7) in paper suggested that electrostatics are the central element for interaction between IL-8-TAMRA and paper (Section 7.4), at least for water-based fluids. By variation of the retention of IL-8-TARMA in paper was possible to a limited extent using the pH value and conductivity (Sections 7.2.1 and 7.2.2). The use of fluids containing organic solvents (Section 7.2.6) provided good results for a targeted reduction in the retention of IL-8-TAMRA in paper. By modification of the paper substrate, the retention of IL-8-TAMRA, which is generally strong in aqueous fluid, could only be slightly reduced (Section 7.3). Therefore, this approach should only be pursued insofar as the selection of the fluid might be limited depending on the application.
The insight that electrostatic interactions play a central role in the retention of analytes in paper was used to control their retention in order to optimize the sensitivity and specificity of μPADs in the model system with dyes. By targeted placement of positive charges, the negativelycharged model analyte tartrazine could be site-specifically concentrated in the microstructured paper. Thus, the signal intensity and consequently the sensitivity of the model μPAD was increased (Chapter 6). Establishing low conductivity of the fluid allowed an optimized separation of a dye mixture of methylene blue and tartrazine, which increased the specificity of the model μPADs (Section 5.2.2). | English |