Development of an enzyme immunoassay for the determination of 2 46-trinitrotoluene: probing the influences of humic acids

摘要

A new enzyme immunoassay is described which can be used for the determination of the explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in water. The assay has a detection limit of 30 ng/l. The evaluation of cross-reactivities shows that the used antibody has a high selectivity for the trinitrophenyl moiety. Since humic substances, commonly occurring in natural waters, can interact with antibodies, the obtained results can be false positive. To reduce the negative influence of the humic substances the usually performed ELISA protocol has been modified by adding a solution of bovine serum albumin (0.5% in PBS) after the coating step.