2-Hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin for the enhanced performance of dual function extraction and detection systems in complex oil environments

The use of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (2-HPCD) for the tandem extraction and proximity-induced energy transfer based detection of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is described herein. Previous work investigated γ-cyclodextrin for this purpose, but the lower cost and reduced toxicity of 2-HPCD made it an attractive target for investigation. 2-HPCD was found to be highly efficient in the extraction of PAHs from oil samples, but was equally or slightly less efficient in promoting intra-cavity energy transfer to a high quantum yield fluorophore. The detection of PAHs via this system results in a new fluorescent signal that can be used to identify different PAHs in aqueous solution. This dual-function system can be very beneficial for oil spill remediation efforts.